Vultural

Born To Be Bad - 1934 - 5/10

Cynical Pre-Code film about 22 year old unwed mother and her 7 year old son.
Mom earns money as an escort (figure it out) while junior runs with gangs and drinks mugs of beer at the house.
When he runs under a delivery truck, they exaggerate the injury and try to hustle the company.
Ought to be more fun, but mother and son play unpleasant to perfection.
One of the films the Legion Of Decency likely pointed at when wanting to tighten the Production Code.
Very young Cary Grant as naive company president, Loretta Young (before she became Miss Wholesome) as call girl.
Short - bitter tasting - with preposterous finale.

Lidice - 2011 - 7/10

Suitable companion film to 2016‘s Anthropoid shows the Czech village of Lidice before - and after - the assassination of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.
There is a mirror narrative of one of the villagers, in prison for murder.
Two murders, different punishments: incarceration versus liquidation.
The massacre of Lidice became infamous.
Staging and cinematography is excellent, and enough time is allotted to many characters so one gets a feel for them as individuals.

Anthropoid - 2016 - 7/10

Overlooked World War II thriller about Operation Anthropoid.
The plot to assassinate SS Obergruppenführer of Czechoslovakia, Reinhard Heydrich.
Told entirely from the Czech resistance point of view.
The “based on” elements are easy to identify and ignore (such as any love interests).
Measured pace spotlights planning, internal arguing, and constant fear of betrayal.
Unlike other films, this offers the buildup, the event, the aftermath.
Breathtaking cinematography, by the way.

Swastika - 2007 - 7/10

The premise: If we only demonize Hitler and associates, we fail to recognize they are also humans.
Thus we assume the next mass murderer will be easy to spot, being a monster.
This mixes rallies, parades, speeches with parties, cocktails, frolics.
Weird, watching Goering and Goebbels hand out Christmas gifts to children.

Footage from Leni Riefenstahl and Eva Braun’s home movies, with actual overheard comments.
Timeline runs from 1933-1938. World War II and atrocities compressed in final five minutes.
A lot of footage I have never seen, and I have watched a fair amount over the years.
Nonetheless, this is not recommended for casual viewers, looking for a primer on Nazism.
I was initially unimpressed, yet this has a cumulative power. Well done.

Orwell, George - Down And Out In Paris And London

The first section of Richard Marsh’s The Beetle detailed the unfortunate adventures of Robert Holt.
Once a respectable clerk, reduced to tramping, then house entering.
Reading this recalled Orwell’s book, which I last read twenty years earlier.
I pulled it from the shelves and began rereading. This is a lightning read.
The Paris section may prove more relevant to many. Those who ever worked in a kitchen or restaurant. Those who suffered abysmal lodgings. Those forced to choose between food or rent.
The London section will interest social historians, with the futility of ordering the unemployed to march a perpetual circuit from one meal ticket to the next.
By turns entertaining and harrowing. And don’t you believe this could never happen again.
Even now, humanity is ever on the move.
As the middle class shrinks and grows imperiled, street vagabonds become more normal.

Pride - 2014 - 7/10

Feel good movie of LGSM (Gays Lesbians Support the Miners), circa 1984, when Thatcher tories struggled to break the coal miner union.
The government had seized the assets of the Mining Union and were literally starving miners into compliance.
Unlikely support came from gays and lesbians who raised money through bucket drives, later benefit concerts.
An awkward pairing, especially for blue collar males, and film goes into that.
Community is reluctant, unsure, uneasy. Homophobia contagion, or fear thereof.
Still, LGSM were the only group that gave generous and consistent support.
Film features a slew of top actors, including Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, as well as a fabulous 80’s soundtrack.
Dominic West has show stopping moment when he teaches non-dancing miners that one of the quickest ways to catch the feminine eye is to kill on the dancefloor.

Waffle - 2020 - 5/10

Mislabeled “horror” short is more a dramedy. The comedy grates.
Gig employee Kerry hires out hourly as Best Friend for a rich girl’s slumber party.
Party of two, and the lonely richling Katie has the temperament of a Chihuahua.
Plot offers one or two possibilities, but goes nowhere. Inferior audio miking.

The Founder - 2016 - 7/10

Aging, over-the-hill salesman investigates one of his few “good” clients.
Pair of brothers doing gangbuster business with their hamburger stand.
Salesman offers to help them launch franchises and expand nationwide.
Against their instincts, the McDonald brothers agree.
Story of how Roy Kroc built an empire and took it away from the founders.

Mixed feelings watching this, much as I have mixed feelings about the McDonald’s chain.
Kroc is a predatory, unscrupulous wolf, but I think the brothers never could have rivaled his achievements.
Loved McDonald’s when they arrived in my town when I was 10. Outgrew them by 18, but still visit when options are limited. City to city, country to country, fare is predictable. And those fries …

Rakka - 2017 - 7/10

Terrific short, something between a pitch and a pilot.
Alien bipeds enslave humanity, torture and experiment, and start major terra-forming.
Resistance is small, and tiny victories result in harsh reprisals.
At barely 20 minutes, this alien invasion genre packs in a lot of images, action, storylines and proto-characters.
One element I did not care for smacked of tinfoil, that is a quibble.
Sigourney Weaver leads a solid cast, directed by Neil Blomkamp for new studio.
If there is interest ($$), they will craft more, and I would watch.
For what it is, Rakka is outstanding, though it is quite brief.

Gunman In The Streets - 1950 - 6/10
AKA - La Traqué (French language version)

Interesting pursuit Noir set in post WWII France.
Dane Clark plays an ex-GI who remained behind the war and set up a nice little black market operation.
When the film opens, he’s being transferred from jail to jury when he is sprung via armed attack.
From then on this is a cat n mouse police chase.
Clark’s colleagues are interrogated, hideouts smashed, ex-girlfriend followed.
As this was shot in France, the look and feel differs from American Noir.
The streets, the shops, the clothes, the faces, most notably a young Simone Signoret.
Aside from the location, the plot offers nothing fresh.
Clark slips catlike through police nets and his character is cold and unsympathetic.
Director Frank Tuttle was an early casualty of the HUAC blacklist which might have explained the European location.

Murder At Land’s End - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres à La Pointe du Raz

Local gendarme investigate the death of a village “character.”
Hers resembles suicide, and it occurs in the Bay Of The Dead, where the drowned meet Ankow.
Suspicions soon lead to another body.

The male / female cops do not flirt or trade innuendos.
Plot twists are few, though narrative jags add to unpredictability.
Gorgeous Brittany coastal scenery used to the full.

xxxHOLiC - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - ドラマ　ホリック

Inventive fantasy J-dorama based on anime based on manga.
Enroute from school, young student spies and is quickly whisked into the shop run by a dimensional witch.
What she runs is, plain and simple, a barter shop. She can grant wishes - but - there is a price to pay.
In any exchange, there is always a price.

He can see ghosts. On the street, in school, everywhere. He is miserable.
The series has eight episodes, thirty minutes each.
One story involves a variation on the monkey’s paw.
Aside from the dimensional witch, there are ghosts (not the friendly sort, either), tainted blood, and a fetchingly cruel wasp spider.
The set design is spare yet elegant. Costumes range from school uniforms to beautiful gowns to downright kinky.
This seems aimed for the young adult crowd, but anyone interested in Japanese folklore should appreciate.

Brontës Britain With Gyles Brndreth - 2021 - 6/10

The lives of three Brontë sisters, with attention to their Yorkshire upbringing
The landscape, as well as key dwellings, still surviving.
One work per sister is referenced, along with film representations.
Mr. Brndreth, as presenter, is akin to an infomercial questioner.
“I didn’t know that!” “So here we are!” “Oh, now I see!”
His enthusiasm, infectious, can prove a bit much at times.
Usual talking heads. One I recognized from an episode of “The Secret Life Of Books”, where she all but called Charlotte Brontë a racist.

Beyond The Black Rainbow - 2010 - 5/10

Futuristic tale of company that helps you create “a better you.”
Except experimentation now seems their locus.
Camera work reeks of student film class: slow dissolves, step printing, colorization.
Acting is ponderous and stilted to the nth degree.
The opening corporate mission statement indicates 1983 and the music remains 80’s throughout.
Synthesizers and musique concrète.
A lot of visually impressive work undermined by exhausting, dreary, glacial pace.

Bodyguard - 1948 - 6/10

Lawrence Tierney plays detective who ignores the rules and book one too many times and gets suspended.
Not to worry, he is approached to work as bodyguard for wealthy old lady.
She protests she does not need a bodyguard, then a bullet smashes though the window of her study.
Detective stays the night, follows her when she slips out at 4:00 AM, gets whacked on the head, wakes up in a car with a dead cop beside him, the car is on train tracks with an express train howling …
That’s like the first ten minutes of this rapid fire B-movie.
Pace is terrific, from constant tracking shots to enough situations to fill six movies.
Breathless thrust of the narrative keeps one from wondering, “What’s the point?”
Tierney also plays a “good guy.” He’s no Boston Blackie, but it’s nice to view him in a role other than a caged tiger.
He has good chemistry with Priscilla Lane (her last role).
Script by a very young Robert Altman, of all people.

Silent Britain - 2006 - 6/10

Film historian Matthew Sweet deep within the BBC vaults.
British silent films are often overlooked, especially compared with Hollywood or German cinema.
England had its own pioneers, stars, studios, and hits.
At an hour, this is not an in-depth survey, merely showcasing key films.
More films, including rarities, would have been better.

Ouija: Origin of Evil - 2016 - 6/10

Old school style yarn of family messing with Ouija board, getting more than they bargained for.
Recently widowed mother earns pocket money by holding seances.
Revenue is meager, though, and PAST DUE bills stack up.
Mom really doesn’t have the gift, either, but the youngest daughter does. (The child who plays Doris is well directed.)
Thing about the open-ended Ouija board. When you make contact, it works both ways.
And to reference Rocky TF Squirrel, are they friendly spirits? Not in this movie.
Set in 1967, though cars, clothes, soda fountain, echo the 50’s.
OK scares, no gore, no nudity. “Child in danger,” a trope I generally dislike.

Liar Game: S01 - 2007 - 7/10
AKA - うそつきゲーム

Great little series about con-men, game playing, greed.
Young girl receives a case full of money and an invitation to participate in the Liar Game.
There are numerous players. The object is to swindle other players out of their case of money.
The winner keeps all the money, losers must pay what they lost. They will be financially ruined.
Straight away, the girl, a trusting, gullible innocent, seeks help from a cunning genius of schemes.
Temporary allegiances, snares, and of course, lies, more lies, and damned lies.
Honorable, upright souls, be warned to avoid this one.

Rare Beasts - 2019 - 6/10

Dating. Meeting someone special, ideal. Romance.
Then there’s the reality. He’s obnoxious and his parents are utterly mad.

Not that Mandy’s parents are any better, let alone saner. And her son, why can’t he be normal?
Because in this life, there is no escape. No hearts and sunshine melodies.
Anything redeeming? The comedy is pitch black in this
And after alcohol, and by candlelight, sometimes the troll looks acceptable.
No they don’t, you hopeless fool.
Overall, the film feels akin to a vanity project.

Wolf Estate - 1943 - 6/10
AKA - La Ferme Aux Loups

Bouncy French mystery finds two fledgling newspaper hounds investigating murder of Russian homeless man.
The lead deadends, so the pair head to the country with the boss’s attractive secretary.
During a howling thunderstorm, their car breaks down and they seek shelter in an “old dark house."
Inside - hey, there’s that dead Russian bum!
Not the most original, yet fast paced, light on its feet, with rather salty dialogue.
Thinking afterward, I wondered if this was filmed in Vichy France.

Code Unknown - 2000 - 7/10
AKA - Code Inconnu: Récit Incomplet de Divers Voyages

Closer translation might be “Unknown Code: Incomplete Stories of Diverse Voyages.”
Brilliant, if challenging film, with scant attempt at linearity.
Tangled storylines weave in and out, clash, or disappear abruptly.
Characters do not listen, do not want to listen. are distracted, are absorbed in their glorious selves.
Communication, human’s so-called forte, is near-impossible. (Deaf children open and close the movie.)
Haneke turns us (cinema viewers) into clueless onlookers.
We can assume backstories, fabricate motivations, or tune out and scroll the phone.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death - 1959 - 6/10

Physician and sculptor, Dr. Bonnet is the toast of 1890 Paris!
The hoi polloi flock to his new exhibition, as do two females.
One who modeled for the current nude torso, and one who modeled previously.
The doctor has dark clouds gathering, however.
Police are curious why he disappears from residences every decade.
Just around the same time as missing person reports.
Hammer Gothic costumer has the sets, the clothes, the cast.
Unfortunately, the script is stodgy, the direction is slow.
Hammer completists should add this snoozer to their bucket list.

Obvious Child - 2014 - 6/10

Stand up comedienne is having a bad day, bad night, bad stretch.
Her job is going out of business (another New York bookshop bites the dust).
Her boyfriend dumps her. She gets drunk, jumps a straight-arrow guy.
Next beat, she discovers she’s the winner of Baby Jackpot!
Story then follows the less traveled path - meaning the cliché of she and the guy hooking up, perhaps getting married, do right by the baby, does not happen.
Instead, she makes an appointment with the abortion clinic.
Realistic, funny at times (though her stand-up routine struck me as painful), based on an earlier short.
Therein is also a flaw with the film. Most of the actors from the short (2009) reprise their roles, only they are now in their 30’s - obvious 30’s. They look too old to play 20-somethings. Her actions don’t always ring true.
Intelligent, adult script with thoughtful, non-judgmental, non-hysterical performances.

Blood And Roses - 1960 - 7/10
AKA - Et Mourir de Plaisir

Beautiful retelling of Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla,” updating the setting to modern Italy.
Carmilla is despondent over the approaching nuptials of her cousin Leopold, whom she loves.
She is moody, fascinated with a more superstitious past.
After a fireworks show gone awry, Carmilla, drawn to the cemetery, encounters a supposedly long dead vampire, Millarca. Unsettling developments ensue.

Erotically charged film, sans nudity. Sets, costumes, and fall outdoors are all gorgeous, though the print I viewed seemed washed out. My copy was also dubbed English.
The final act is surreal and imaginative. One of Vadim’s best films.

Speed - 1994 - 7/10

For what it is, brain-off action ride, this is pretty good.
A ransom demanding bomber has already been thwarted once.
Now he targets mass transit, and half filled city bus.
The pacing keeps you from analyzing problems.

I saw this when it was released. A couple of times, actually (I was younger).
I rewatched recently, after decades, and quietly criticized. (No, not the aerial leap,)
The ransomer (Hopper, memorable) wants $3.7 million.
I’m going, “Pay it. Mark the bills, but pay it.”
Throughout, highway mayhem, street damage, airport jollies, subway, I’m running a mental calculator.
“Told you guys. Ransom was cheap compared to repair bill.”