You are one of the old school members. Chances are you were active during the Boon tenure.
What are you making with Ladyhawke?
An mp4? Or a DVD with menu and trailer?
Fewer craft the latter nowadays.
The Stranger (Eyes Of A Stranger) - Maniac
Excellent, concise version of a middling slasher / stalker flick.
A serial killer prowls Miami streets, primarily at night.
The police are … what police? Only a perky TV newscaster seems interested.
Especially after she hones in on a suspect.
Filesize = 7.3 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC. Audio = 1536 kbps 5.1 DTS. No subs.
The image in this is pretty good, especially during night sequences.
Slashers were never demo time for crisp imaging.
The cuts boil the narrative down to bones and pulp, omitting several superfluous characters.
To be honest, most of the characters could have been jettisoned, all served as props to push plot.
The DTS is very strong, in fact, it is better than this film deserves.
At barely an hour, this dark thriller might conclude while you have a few cans left of your sixpack.
Home Invasion (Don’t Breath 1 and 2) - Maniac
Excellent combination of two thrillers, with perfect segue from the first one to the second.
Filesize = 11 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080 AVC. Audio = 1536 kbps 5.1 DTS. No subs.
Continuing a trend within the community, the filesize is a whopping 11 GB.
(For me, I simply can’t burn a copy which I regret.)
The first film, better, fresher, is a hardboiled caper gone to hell.
As always with this editor, DB1 is trimmed to bare essentials. Not that viewers care about the “intruders” except to see how they will be dispatched.
The second effort launches with new ward, Phoenix, who has target stamped on her head.
Baddies are more lethal and Mr. Lang absorbs enough abuse to kill an elephant.
Early on, a news alert drops the hint about a missing medico. That should have been removed.
The sound mix in both films will satisfy you and annoy your roomies. The tiniest sounds are picked up, and when it roars, brace for complaints.
That said, the dialogue in the DB2 was always murky, and is no better here. Most of the villains mumble and seem incomprehensible. This is the sound designer, loading layers of audio yet forgetting to maximize dialogue. Being a source issue, don’t blame the faneditor.
The ending felt like quitting time. The original wasn’t much better.
Maniac wisely cut Phoenix, though the bit with the dog might have been a better outro.
Blue Steel 44 (Blue Steel 1990) - Maniac
Rookie cop Megan interrupts a convenience store holdup, and accidentally awakens a germinating serial killer.
Filesize = 7 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080 AVC. Audio = 1536 kbps 5.1 DTS. No subs.
Straight off, this is not Megan’s story, so much as it is that of an increasingly violent exchange broker (an intense Ron Silver).
This edit is stripped to that narrative, it is extremely tight and works throughout.
Note should be made to the audio specs. The DTS is a beast.
Maniac has tweaked the gunfire which explodes from your speakers.
If you are watching this with the volume turned up, your neighbors will know.
This is an editor who continues to learn and up his game.
Hitler: Memories Of The Past (Triumph Of The Will) - Maniac
I reviewed this several years ago at another site.
At the time, I voiced serious issues I had with the result. Insufficient subtitles.
Maniac overhauled his edit and delivers a superior second version.
Filesize = 4.32 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC. Audio = 192 kbps 2-Channel stereo AC-3. Subtitled throughout.
The image for Riefenstahl’s 1934 film is sharp, the quality for “Night And Fog” less so, and “Memory Of The Camps” runs fair to poor. This is source material so do not blame the editor.
One watches the 1934 Nuremberg rally unfold, and then the narrative shifts to the camps.
This is jarring, and well done. The blunt juxtaposition of pomp and pageantry, and atrocity. Words vs. deeds.
The speeches are now subtitled, which vastly improves the contradictions of “the coming Reich” and “what the Reich became.”
Music additions were mixed for me. I thought the opening, aerial sequences worked, and the score for the closing was haunting.
At barely an hour, this ought to be mandatory viewing.
Note: The original V1 is available at another fanedit place. Don’t get that one. Go to Maniac’s own site.
Thirst (Raw - 2016) - Maniac
This gory, cannibalistic shocker is tightened and pushed to carnivore maximum.
Filesize = 4.5 GB. Video = 1980 X 1080p mp4. Audio = 317 kbps, 2-Channel AAC. Subtitled throughout. Hardsubs.
The gurgling narrative is boiled down to its essence of meat and ravening hunger.
Odd conflicts and personal dramas are gone from this.
Instead, Justine’s first year at vet school doesn’t mess around. She does, though.
Yet her ride is plunging down a descending roller coaster, one permanently in the twisting tunnel.
One of the surprising joys of this cut is how funny this film is.
That is Maniac’s droll gift, highlighting the gruesome humor throughout.
Much of the over the top antics are laugh out loud. (Perhaps that says more about me.)
Editors, check out opening and closing credits.
Warning! If you are new to Maniac’s edits, this is NOT the one to begin with.
And this, like others, may be an acquired taste. Ha, sorry.
Web Of Deception - 1989 - 6/10
AKA - Jing Hun Ji // 驚魂記
Lawyer Lin, planning to emigrate to Canada, is being blackmailed.
Her friend and assistant, May, might have motive.
In addition, May’s friend Queenie has a desperate financial need for her convict sister.
Then, during a stormy night, everyone winds up in Lin’s dark home.
Muddled Hong Kong thriller has an improvised, cobbled together feel.
As if they had a sketch, rather than a script.
Juicy dual role for Joey Wong, especially as the crazy, vengeful jailbird sister.
No great shakes but will divert Hong Kong fans for an hour or so.
Phantom Thread - 2017 - 7/10
Austere take on the Pygmalion fable.
Dressmaker for London’s high end takes on new girl as model.
He is extremely fastidious, the only soul who understands or who can communicate with him is his sister.
Leisurely paced, desaturated color scheme, the narrative steps along by nuances.
Character study of man with complicated mother issues, the irony being his incredible eye for enhancing female appearance compounded by his tendencies to wound them.
Sound mix is noteworthy. Concentrated silence marred by the tiniest activity.
This will not be for all tastes.
First Paul Anderson film I have actually enjoyed since Boogie Nights.
The Hoodlum - 1951 - 6/10
Ma pleads with the parole board, “He’s a good boy. He’s learned. Please, he’s my son!”
So junior get released, then starts working at his brother’s gas station.
Conveniently located across the street from the bank.
Grade-D Noir with hard as nails, Lawrence Tierney.
Main supporting cast are terrible, including Tierney’s brother, Edward.
Guys portraying the heist crew are fine, and the caper was creative.
Film clocks in at barely an hour, packing bullets, betrayal, and sleaze.
Okay for Noir diehards or Tierney fans.
Army Of Shadows - 1969 - 8/10
AKA - L’armée des Ombres
French Resistance during the German occupation of World War II.
This focuses more on the tedium, the tension, and the loneliness of key members.
Individuals seem to be constantly on the move, relocating from one “safe” house to another.
Missions are small, try to rescue a pilot, deal with a betrayer, recruit, and missions often fail.
Help comes from ordinary people, while armed troops scrutinize the populace.
No lengthy gun battles, pyrotechnic explosions, bombastic heroic music.
Everything is understated and weary.
There are the Germans, the Vichy collaborators, and the weasels.
Lack of glamour possibly evokes the Occupation and Resistance better than other films.
The Wave I Ride - 2015 - 6/10
Surfing doc of Paige Alms, one of the few, very few, females riding big waves.
More than most surf films, this is a character study. Don’t go here for loud music, hyper cut, surf porn.
Paige’s training, injury, support crew, home life, community work, jobs.
Yes, jobs. Being a girl, she doesn’t get the sponsorship that the boys get.
The sport is segregated male / female.
Money also tends to flow to riders working the shore, or – especially – those who model for boards and suits, showing sculpted backsides.
As in many spheres, talent and ability generally lose out to sex appeal.
Paige is genuinely likeable, if a little New Agey.
Le Week-End - 2013 - 6/10
Film references and pays homage to Goddard’s Band Of Outsiders, and features cues by cult fave Nick Drake, yet Le Week-End remains a frustrating, pale reminder.
Narrative follows an older, professorial British couple who return to Paris for their 30th anniversary.
Their original honeymoon room has changed … or perhaps they have.
They bolt, and book the executive suite in a posh hotel.
Bickering, whining, accusations and atrocious behavior soon flow thick and fast.
The scenery was enjoyable - hell, I appreciated the story - a frayed marriage at the end of its rope.
Yet, I disliked the couple. Intensely.
Once they started running, without paying, from every place they went, short-changing waiters, cooks, maids, etc…, “working people,” it was hard to be sympathetic toward them.
Los Angeles Overnight - 2018 - 6/10
Shaggy dog yarn.
Failing, barely working actress overhears a whispered conversation during her waitress gig.
What she caught was a secret, a clue, a puzzle. She needs assistance in solving.
She should have realized bad guys would find her.
Plot is nothing new, characters are oddballs, though not needlessly weird.
Surprise in this sunny Neo Noir is the waitress/actress who is determined to remain in Los Angeles, praying for the mythical big break.
Her desperation to not return to Ma n Pa and the hometown, pushes her actions.
My Past - 1931 - 6/10
Steel tycoons, partners, one old, one young, fall for the same showgirl.
Bebe Daniels is the alluring Doree, Joan Blondell her sharp chum.
This Pre-Code has nude swimming, bedroom action, adultery, casual morality.
“Ultra modern” girls, says one gent, are here today, gone tomorrow.
The first half is racy, the second stodgy. Lewis Stone’s as fading sugar daddy is the most sympathetic.
Trappings throughout of furs, jewels, champagne, seem like a dimly remembered take on the half lit world of the Roaring Twenties, swept away two years earlier.
Look for the book Daniels reads, “The Maltese Falcon,” which would be her next film.
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie - 2012 - 6/10
Documentary of trash talking talk show host who chased fame from the rabble.
His TV show, which I well remember, barely lasted two years.
Meteoric rise followed by hurtling crash.
I knew he was involved in the 60’s surf music scene, but that was not mentioned.
Instead, the doc showed his childhood home, a stone’s toss from the Kennedy family.
From leftie to songster to demagogue to has-been.
Curiosity flick. Better if you have a fondness for belligerent types.
Midnight Hair - 2014 - 5/10
AKA - Yèbàn Shūtóu // 夜半梳頭
Such a tantalizing title. Especially for a yarn featuring newlyweds.
Film is, however, Chinese horror, and a throwback to old school Hong Kong.
Happy couple moves into grand home. Within ten minutes you realize the joint is haunted.
Soon enough, the bride sees a pale ghost, the husband grows troubled.
So what do they do? They stay put. Well, it is a really nice house.
Story plods along like a drunken tortoise, past fog, creepy shadows, and jump scares.
The male actor (clearly a high school drama dropout) does IT or something. His gifted companion prances about in skimpy dresses, sheer negligees, tight tops, while exploring posh, dust-free, interiors.
Subs were embedded Chinese over English, and just as ridiculous as HK subs from the 90’s.
Pedestrian narrative, poor ending. Might rewatch though, because I enjoyed that home.
It was huge - especially by Asian standards. And richly furnished.
How could they afford that? (Yes, there was an explanation.)
In The Courtyard - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - Dans la Cour
Just before the concert, the band singer is fed up, and walks.
He is old, he has no professional skills, he is unsuited for most work.
The building complex needs a janitor, however.
French drama, with comic touches, is of the inhabitants, their obsessions and flaws.
Catherine Deneuve nominated for a Cesar as the wife whose anxiety over a wall crack deepens as the fissure itself.
Not necessarily a downer, but most of the characters are disappointed with themselves and despondent.
The Howling Wind - 2020 - 6/10
Early on, radio broadcasts alert listeners that the unusual winds are turning humans deadly.
When gusts wail, lock the doors and let no one inside.
So what to do when you are barricaded, alone, then discover an intruder.
Well, in this short, there are long conversations. Interrogations.
The caliber of acting is high in this, the photography top notch.
And yet, for most of us, the 12 gauge would have boomed at first sight.
The music marries well, and the dialogue remains discernible.
That’s always a bugbear of mine, as enhanced audio often leaves conversations murky.
This was always an A film.
Do you plan to cut or alter much?
Annihilation - 2018 - 6/10
Extraterrestrial object impacts isolated southern USA coast.
Flora and fauna soon begin to alter, then the affected area begins to widen.
A select team of four women cross into this zone, also known as the Shimmer.
Previous male units vanished with one exception.
Taut SciFi thriller packs in suspense, psychological drama, mystery and a creeping sense of unease.
I went into this stone cold, never having read the runaway bestseller upon which it is based.
While some reviews cast this as an invasion film, it is a contagion story, unless contrary details are in the book.
Themes of adaptation, assimilation and utter indifference may confuse “answer seekers.”
Visuals are imaginative, sound mix is unobtrusive, acting is fine.
For all that, this struck me as a left turn fork of Day Of The Triffids.
Afterward, I had an odd reflection - that may only resonate with Southerners - as I wondered if the author had grown up in a pre-kudzu era, before the landscape was overwhelmed, and if the Shimmer is an echo of that.
Scenic Route - 2013 - 5/10
Two aging, childhood friends are driving a forsaken backwater route through Death Valley.
Failed, homeless writer and newly married, burnout musician.
Height of summer, sheer oblivion, what are the odds of engine trouble?
I was barking aloud at this one:
“Don’t do that.” “No, you idiots, what are you, suicidal?” “Stop talking and start thinking.”
As gathered, the pair talked and they talked and they talked.
Note to producers: Men don’t gab this much. Otherwise they get booted from the Guy Club.
Note redux: Dialogue was not remotely “My Dinner With André.”
Tell No One - 2006 - 7/10
AKA - Ne le dis à Personne
After skinny dipping with her husband in the family lake, Margot trots off to get the dog.
There are screams, a scuffle, and husband Alex hurries to rescue, only to get pummeled.
Eight years later, widower Alex learns bodies have been found by the lake.
Perhaps the assailants. Either way, gendarmes who still suspect him of his wife’s death, now eye him for these.
That is the opening five minutes of a tight thriller, packed with twists, lies, back-stories.
Well executed, although a few points are predictable. (Early on, a character appeared, and I said he would loom larger later in the film. Sure enough.)
Life Itself - 2014 - 6/10
Recent documentary, bordering on feel-good, about America’s favorite film critic.
Covers the bases from childhood, newspaper years, partnership with Siskel, demise.
Much is made of influence Ebert had, but the impact for me was from Sneak Previews on.
Back in the early 80’s, Siskel and Ebert were one of the first to feature extended clips.
That was invaluable when deciding what film to spend my cash on.
Also, unlike more so-called literary critics, the Chicago pair never spoiled a plot twist, nor did the reader have to wade through pages of text - seldom necessary for fresh releases.
At the end of it all, however, Ebert was a film critic.
His influence waned, as has the influence of all critics. The films omits that aspect.
The critical process, circa 1980 -
Sneak Previews: “Take 2: Going to the Movies"
https://vimeo.com/542423495
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV4_UjtNzjI
Breath Of Life - 2021 - 7/10
Theatre junkies, your attendance, please!
Best-selling novelist Frances travels to the Isle Of Wight to visit Madeleine, retired curator.
Neither had truly met before, but they shared an interest, Frances’s ex, Martin.
Much of the play is taken up with discussion of fidelity, history, choices, and the absent Martin.
Dialogue ranges from wistful to comic to acerbic. Guilt, not from these two.
Some of the lines are memorable, and I’m paraphrasing a few.
“Why did I move to Wight? It’s what humanity does when we age. We crawl south to die.”
“It’s as the most powerful nation on the planet is now the most worried.”
Inventive camera work in filming a socially distant play.