Vultural

M. R. James: Ghost Writer - 2013 - 6/10

Presenter Mark Gatiss narrates the life and works of premier ghost story scribe, M R James.
Excerpts from stories, talking heads, location shots of Cambridge and Eton.
A scholar, and solitary man. Typical of most writers, James himself is not particularly compelling.
Forays into his sexual inclinations seem a cross between speculation and weak attempt to create interest.
Time filler.

Night Of The Demon - 1957 - 7/10
AKA - Curse Of The Demon

Old school ghost tale based on M R James’ classic, “Casting The Runes.”
American professor come to London for conference on supernatural.
He runs afoul of devil worshiper and realizes a curse has been placed.
Moody, atmospheric film, with adversaries polite and well mannered.
Dana Andrews fine as skeptical American joining forced with colleague’s younger niece.
Fortunately, no icky romance which would be de rigueur nowadays.
A trifle stuffy, but an excellent adult supernatural yarn.

Family Resemblances - 1996 - 7/10
AKA - Un Air de Famille

Part birthday celebration, part weekly family gathering.
One imagines resentments have been bottled up for years.
Except this time, feelings start spewing out. (Well, it is a movie.)
One of those marvelous conversation dramas the French easily pull off.
Catherine Frot memorable as the airhead (trophy?) wife of the successful, if stressed, salaryman.
Everyone is great though, from those you sympathize with, to those you want to strangle.
Family, eh?

Black Widow - 1954 - 6/10

Glossy potboiler masquerading as Noir.
Broadway producer Van Heflin allows dewy eyed girl to use his apartment during days so she can write.
Instead, she delves into the social register. The “male” social register.

Soon enough, she is found dangling by the noose.
Detective (George Raft) conducts a rather leisurely hunt while Heflin scrambles for clues.
Ginger Rogers steals movie as diva, Gene Tierney seems subdued.
Very w-i-d-e and lush looking CinemaScope heightens glossy interiors and New York streets.
Noticeably awful sound mix, though. Early stereo, and it sounds like a third of the dialogue was looped.
Alert viewers will recall title when narrowing suspects.

The Blade - 1995 - 7/10
AKA - Dāo / 刀

Spectacular Hong Kong swordsplay actioner.
Stuntwork is dazzling in this, and I would not be surprised if dismemberment had occurred.
Rivalry within a swordsmith’s fortress creates tension and discontent.
Outside the walls - somewhere - marauding bandits pillage at will.
The landscape is splattered with various battles and bloodbaths, while bandit numbers swell.
What they really need, however, are more swords.

Exceptional Tsui Hark film, though less known, perhaps, because it is relentlessly grim, dark, bleak.
No heroes here. Survivors, betrayers, murderers.
Violent retelling of the one-armed swprdsman tale.
Hong Kong released quite a number of pessimistic films fore-shadowing the takeover.
Hard Boiled, Burning Paradise, Black Sun, are a few that come to mind.
The Blade will be an action lover’s dream.

The Joy Of Easy Listening - 2011 - 6/10

Dim the lights. Better, light the candles, pour the wine, spin up your 101 Strings Plays Soothing Black Metal.
Brace for silk, satin and romance. Ha, in your dreams, button-head.
Long sweep of Easy Listening from its origins in post WWII to Millennials rediscovering with, “Wow cool!”
From Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Bert Kaempfert, Henry Mancini (represented by their daughters) –
Herb Alpert, Richard Carpenter, Jimmy Webb,
Better for those with a broad, diverse musical palate. Embarrassing how much I knew, how much I own.

Note: I grew up hearing this daily. Apart from Dad’s nonstop Big Band Swing, Mom kept her kitchen radio glued to the easy listening station. WHEZ (I kid you not) which my brothers and I referred to as Wheeze.
Worse, I bought countless Easy LPs. I joined the record club for my free KISS, Deep Purple, Beatles, whatnot. Then, to fulfill my obligation, I bought 101 Strings, Mantovani, Percy Faith for a dime each. Ended membership, joined a month later under a new name. Gave the mellow vinyl to Mom. Which, to my annoyance, she played.

Far From The Madding Crowd - 2015 - 7/10

Not surprisingly, beautiful looking adaptation of Hardy’s novel.
Each of the three male rivals is given a sympathetic treatment - more or less.
Story follows young (20) Bathsheba Everdene who inherits her uncle’s farm.
Like most of Hardy’s works, Fate predominates, at times cruel, others capricious.
Some reviewers have been harsh toward Miss Everdene who often makes poor choices.
Consider, however, she is a bare 20 and has led a rather sheltered life.
Thoughtful decisions are usually sound, impulsive acts deliver consequences.
For “purists” this is not an overly Modern interpretation, as has been the trend for Austen productions.
Leisurely paced, but not slow. Plenty to see with sly subtleties.
Note the farm songs when Bathsheba operated it on her own, and those after Mr Troy arrived.

True Story - 2015 - 6/10

Engrossing, if not altogether satisfying drama of lies and murder.
Jonah Hill as New York Times reporter fired for fabricating a cover story.
James Franco as man indicted for killing family, then dropping bodies into the bay.
The accused offers to tell his story to the disgraced newsman.
Each recognizes the other as a pathological liar, and there is the difficulty with the movie.
The film is packed with invention, self-deception, false assumptions.
Very little truth and no honesty.
Primarily a two man show, both actors play against type and do fine in chilly movie.
Sparse dialogue. Many scenes, one individual talks or asks, and another declines to answer.
Dry and emotionally empty.
It will hold your interest throughout, but you might not care about anyone involved.

Without Name - 2016 - 6/10

The surveyor works a remote forest in Ireland.
His employer, a shady individual with undisclosed plans for the area.
Tip: Surveyors are usually the advance scouts for “civilized” blight afflicting the wilderness.
Ominously, the woods feel almost sentient.
Readers of Blackwood’s “The Willows” look no further.
Excellent camerawork, ranging from claustrophobic to man dwarfed by Nature.
Trippy ending is OK, though the director loosened the reins a little too much.

The High And The Mighty - 1954 - 7/10

Craving an old-fashioned airline disaster film?
Look no further. This is the root of mainstream copies and inevitable spoofs.
Large cast headed by John Wayne and Robert Stack (coupled with “names” of the era and well as recognizable character actors) climb aboard the Honolulu to San Francisco four prop plane.
The flight seems only half full and seats are spacious.
Passengers each given their moment to tell their story.
Before the engine trouble arrives, then fuel problems.
Wayne very good in understated role as weary albatross observing Stack’s character navigate inner demons.
At times corny and predictable, most of the film is a tense thriller. (Hooray, free films at the museum!)

Walsh, O. Jamie - The Revenants

For those who have read Edita Bikker’s The Night Of Turns (also from Broodcomb), this collection makes an ideal companion, especially for those who wondered what “the settlements” were that Bikker left.
This reads like a newcomer’s guide. Meeting inhabitants, seeing and perhaps guessing how the society work. There are a variety of characters, several we drift back to repeatedly, others are chance encounters.
Bikker is referenced once in an unsent letter. There is an offhand comment about Potter’s Museum (Of Curiosities), which brought a smile, recalling a visit there decades earlier.
Each entry is brief, never more than two pages, and I would calculate there are 100+ in this generous collection.
This is a book to be read in small doses, not to wolf down, but to allow impression to steep into you.
At the fringe is a group of individuals who had ventured outside the settlements on a search-rescue expedition. When they returned, they were profoundly altered. Unable or unwilling to communicate, they live apart, and they live – perhaps – out of time. Locals call them the revenants.
Late events rise to a crescendo, although readers who long for meaning to be folded into mystery may be stymied. We are permitted so much, yet we remain observers, outsiders.
Several of the main actors have a hunger, a thirst for experiencing, or simply “seeing.” Experiences are often transactions. Something gained, another thing lost. The bartered exchange is frequently bitter, yet the longer one lives, the more one grasps that there is no going back, only looking back.

Date Bait - 1960 - 3/10

Had low expectations with this, yet was hopeful.
Promising trash opts for wholesome instead of sleaze.
Troubled teen returns to the soda shop after being six months away.
His supposed girlfriend now dancing with another guy.
Pushing leads to fists leads to knifeplay - which gets interrupted.
One realizes right quick, that kid’s head ain’t on straight.

A Cadillac convertible driven by crooks tries to crush a roadster.
Movie has heroin pushers, a crazed hophead, kidnapping, bongo drumming, frisky teens.
Two timeless songs, “Date Bait Baby” and “Purple Pleated Bermudas.”
Ingredients for greatness, but unfortunately the core plot is true love between girlfriend and boyfriend and all the pesky obstacles they must overcome.
Most of the teens look to be in their mid to late twenties.
Dull. This could have been so much worse - and more entertaining. Bummer.

Women, Sex and Society: Timewatch Guide - 2016 - 5/10

Hour “documentary” about women’s fight for rights over 100 years.
Three eras: Suffragette movement of 1890’s, the Swinging 60’s, and the 90’s.
Talking heads skim the surface. Suffragette radicals, fight for abortion, employment.
Numerous popular movies would serve the curious better.
Suffragette from 2015, or 2010‘s Made In Dagenham.
This whole production felt like a homework assignment. Badly padded, at that.

Under The Shadow - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - Zir-e Saye

Offbeat, and off the beaten track ghost story from Iran.
Near 1988, the end of the Iran - Iraq War, a bombed out roof allows a djinn to enter an apartment.
Or is does it ride in with the haunted orphan boy from Abadan?
Unclear, in a good way. Items go missing and an unease descends.
Soon enough, inhabitants divide between believers and scoffers.
As bombings intensify, those who believe in spirits do the proper thing - they run.
Leaving behind, a mother and daughter.
Usually I would never watch any US film with the “kid in peril” device as they are 98% predictable.
This, being an Iranian production, will upset predictions.
Good spook story.

Note - I downed several subs and was happy with none. Typos, odd timestamps, no caps for names.
I tweaked a set and uploaded if you need - http://www.addic7ed.com/movie/119833

Cilla - 2014 - 7/10

Well done, if not altogether completely accurate, mini series of young Cilla Black.
Cilla was the girl singer in Brian Epstein’s stable.
She never succeeded in the States, yet became an institution in Britain.
Series covers the early days when she was a Cavern Club devotee and often sang onstage with the lads, through her hit making years.
One of her friends is Rory Storm’s drummer, Ringo. Then there’s those other three guys.
Numerous songs throughout, and several groups listed, including some that never made it out of Liverpool.
Sheridan Smith does her own belting and is astoundingly good.
Story ends around the same time as the end of the British Invasion, but before the dissolution of Swinging London.

Tell Me A Story: S01 - 2018 - 7/10

Had I more appetite for US fare, I might have stumbled upon this earlier.
Three fairy tales, updated and relocated to New York City.
Hansel and Gretel, Three Little Pigs. Little Red Riding Hood.
Common to all, the wolf. Yeah, a bad one. Make that wolves.
I found myself engrossed in one thread, irritated with another.
An episode later, my allegiances would shift.
In addition, several times I second-guessed. “Aw, man, is going to happen? This is so predictable.”
Except that seldom happened. The writing is high, they always took unexpected directions.
Sharp little series, at least S01. I might try another season.
Based on the Spanish series, Cuéntame un Cuento, about which I am now very curious.

Murder On D Street - 1997 - 7/10
AKA - D-Zaka no Satsujin Jiken // D坂の殺人事件

Edogawa Rampo murder mystery starts slowly, and confusing.
A used book dealer, ex geisha, hires a forger to recreate paintings.
Pornographic art of bondage and cruelty by Shundei Ohe.
Forbidden, suppressed, so of course there are eager collectors who will pay dearly.
Creative film goes into detail on the forgery techniques.
Also the use of ropes, knots, model positioning.
The first hour features lusty action by neighbors, who initially seem to have no bearing on the story.
Murder, as well as Detective Akechi, comes late in the film.
Dark, highly charged erotica, demands full attention.

Somm: Into The Bottle - 2015 - 6/10

Winesnobs, score higher. Everyone else, prepare to stroll.

Checklist to see if you qualify. (The correct answer is “A” every time.)

1. Preferred evening drink: A - alcohol, B - soft drinks, C - dairy, D - water, E - nothing.
2. What sort of alcohol: A - wine, B - beer, C - cocktail.
3. Wine with: A - dinner, B - crackers n cheese.
4. Favorite place to dine: A - away from home, B - home.
5. Restaurant wine list is: A - at least 10 pages long, B - house red or house white.
6. How much will you spend on bottle: A - $100 or more, B - $99 or less, C - are you crazy?

Wine documentary divided fairly equally between vintners (growers, bottlers) and sommeliers.
Vinters matter-of-fact about what they grow, challenges, how the wine ought to taste.
The sommeliers are selling a story, though. They want you to spend for that $350 bottle.
“Because it is so special - - just like you.” Sure …
Mention given to Mondavi and Parker, both of whom I regard as bad influences -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411674/

I enjoyed, albeit bemused. My bride and I, while hardly connoisseurs, are “steady” drinkers, meaning 4-5 bottles per week.
But triple digit bottles? C - are you crazy? I could, and do, buy cases for that price.

The Humbling - 2014 - 5/10

Pretentious, self-indulgent muddle.
Al Pacino as aging actor suffering peculiar breakdown.
He talks to himself, he talks with others. Or are they figments of his imagination?
A young girl, forty years his junior, confesses a lifelong crush and moves in.
Maybe … Or maybe she is another phantom.
At one point, Pacino’s character confesses roles and reality are blurring.
For viewers, the experience is one fake out scene after another.
Devotees of Birdman might enjoy this better.

Galileo: S01 - 2008 - 6/10
AKA - ガリレオ

When faced with baffling, unsolvable murders, female cop consults physics professor.
One case follows another until - Hey! - Apologies to Mr Berra, but is this deja vu all over again?

Hold on. Another reboot of the Eleventh Hour franchise?
Not exactly, there are too many flaws.
For a serious drama, there is comic silliness.
Several music cues are goofy and slapstick, their noisy intrusion wrecks the mood.
The story arc suffers implausible romantic leanings. Detective and professor are acid n oil opposites, the attraction phony.
Complaints out of the way, the 10 part series is entertaining throughout.

Most of the crimes are “unsolvable.” - Spontaneous combustion - Poltergeist - Fireballs - Ghosts - Premonitions
That is, until the prof and students set up testing apparatus.
Big, Goldberg devices.
Fun to watch, though uncertain how valid the scientific accuracy is.
Easy science for non-demanding C grade students.

Three Bad Sisters - 1956 - 5/10

Wealthy father dies in a plane crash (while the pilot miraculously survives).
Three daughters stand to inherit a three-way split.
Or … if one dies, a two-way. Or … if another, mine all mine!
One sister is goody-two-shoes, meaning Dullsville.
The other flirts, goes shopping, runs around. Yeah, lively and rambunctious, the fun date.
Sister number three, though, Valerie, whoo boy. Poster child for devious psychopath.

Would that the other two, Vicki and Lorna, were in her league.
Then, this might be a must-see exploitation gem. As is, Valerie is the flame to watch.

Bedelia - 1946 - 6/10

Based on Vera Caspary novel of honeymoon couple in Monte Carlo.
She is rich, he is not. 1st marriage for him, 2nd for her.
A wandering painter wants to do her portrait, she refuses.
Just as she adamantly stops any photographs being taken of her.
Sluggish tale of the past trailing after the shady soul.
Caspary also wrote Laura and was always angry that Preminger reduced the title heroine to an empty nothing.
Bedelia is more conniving and multi-layered, but the pace lollygags.

American Experience: Mary Pickford - 2004 - 7/10

Fine documentary on America’s sweetheart, from the Silent Era.
Good collection of stills, clips from her films (including Griffith shorts), newsreels. home movies.
One gets a good feel for Pickford the actress, professional, and business woman.
What is unseen, is Pickford’s private life, the person under the role.
Especially after she quit acting and became a recluse.

I have to be in the right mood to watch Pickford.
She excelled at radiating purity and innocence, which I am seldom in the mood for.
An influential actress, her audiences insisted she portray young girls (even into her 30’s).
Tastes can change overnight. She was abandoned when 20’s theater goers opted for sleeker models.
Most movie stars seem to end up badly, personal opinion.

Clouds Of Sils Marie - 2014 - 7/10

Difficult, challenging film, propelled by Juliette Binoche and a surprising good Kristen Stewart.
Top tier actress is offered a role in an update / remake of edgy work that launched her career decades earlier.
There is a misunderstanding initially about whether the script is about her character, thirty years later whom she could play, or a remake and she would portray “the older woman.”
Actually the film (which gave me trouble) seems deliberately filled with uncertainty, misdirection and ambiguity.
Distractions from social media are also constant. Ringing cellphones, individuals dropping out of conversations to check messages, numerous Google and YouTube searches (reliable barometers of info, those last two).
This is a character study of old school Binoche gradually ramping her character up to speed with more modern, less nuanced audience tastes.
Stewart is her PA and de facto sounding board. Maybe . . .
Despite breathtaking Swiss Alps exteriors, the film is quite stagy - theatrical.
Theatre buffs will enjoy this. Those expecting scheming cat fights will be disappointed.

The Spectacular - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Die Spectacular

Four part thriller of the IRA terror campaign in Belgium and The Netherlands.
IRA targets off-duty British soldiers, but if civilians are killed … collateral damage.
Timeline = 1988 - 1994.
Narratives follow Irish tactics, and efforts of combined government intelligence agencies to thwart.
Well done, although the subtitles leave much to be desired.
Subs I viewed were English (for Dutch speakers), and Dutch (for Irish speakers)…
Chapter titles not subbed, nor were the “aftermath” comments during closing credits.