Vultural

Daine Jir
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Daine_Jir

Lucas couldn’t just write Danger?

Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In - 2024 - 6/10
AKA - Jiu Long Cheng Zhai: Wei Cheng // 九龍城寨之圍城

Supernatural fortress? No, action overload in the lanes, alleys and balconies.
The triad swindles him, so he grabs a sack of cocaine and flees into Kowloon.
Specifically, the “Walled City” controlled by Cyclone and his crew.
After awhile, Chan adjusts to the violent, claustrophobic environment and is grudgingly accepted.
Outside events are closing in on Kowloon, however, as authorities want to level it.
Whereupon the land, even in 1980’s Hong Kong, would be worth a staggering fortune.
Action and stunts dazzle, save for excessive wire-work, which feels out of place here.
High scores, I suspect, reflect nostalgia from Hong Kong for the bygone walled city.

Stage Mother - 2019 - 6/10

Rickey left Texas for San Francisco over a decade ago.
Now Ma, Maybelline, is flying there for his funeral.
It ain’t right, burying one’s own son, yet despite the estrangement, she did love him so.
And, it turns out, she is the inheritor of his business, a struggling drag club.
In no time flat, Maybelline overcomes her conservative, religious upbringing.
Bonds with the entertainers, brings fresh ideas for revitalizing business, finds romance.
Only in the movies.
Ain’t depressing enough? Seek elsewhere. Feel-good all the way, with catchy songs.

The Untold Story - 1993 - 7/10
AKA - 八仙饭店之人肉叉烧包

The steamed buns are hugely popular at the Eight Immortals Restaurant.
Credit new owner Wong Chi Hang, who took over after the previous owner – and family – disappeared!
Body parts are discovered, which may be the previous family, rousing the police.
Who accept a story along with free pork buns.
Friend, if you think you have this all worked out, you’d best think again.
This is a wild Cat III Hong Kong classic (Anthony Wong won Best Actor!).
Funny, brutal, ugly, sadistic, completely out of control, and, based on real events.

The Sermon - 2018 - 6/10

Good old-fashioned fire and brimstone.
The time the preacher warns about the abomination of sex.
Quoting Leviticus, condoning persecution of those who prey on children.
Lesbians, sadists, deviants.
God cannot love them, nor should we.
Events spiral.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357760

Various (Editor: Pulver, Joseph) - The Madness Of Dr. Caligari

Enthusiasm from editor Pulver notwithstanding, this is a proverbial grab-bag. Hits and misses. Ripe storytelling and wordy clunkers. Indeed, the failures for me stem from writers, who, in this instance, cannot tell a proper story.

Ross is too old for the college Film Studies course, but as a movie hound, a perceived expert, he anticipates an easy A. “The Words Between” finds his understanding of an Expressionist classic, his ability to coherently write an essay about the film, and his own self-awareness, beginning to fracture.

As with military indoctrination, the master seeks to break down the recruit - or patient - in order to reforge a superior specimen. In this “Conversion”, however, the process excels, resulting in malevolence.

She tells the tale to Tubby. A tale of adolescence, working a part-time job for the neighborhood babysitter. “Somnambule”, in this case not the sleepwalker, but closer to a chrysalis. The numbed soul, emotions and thoughts bent inwards, cocooned, then morphing out of the harmless.

“Et Spiritus Sanctus” showcases the royal daughter, surviving heiress, surrounded by lies, deceivers, manipulators, then coming into her own.

Unlike many collections, the second half of this is very strong (although one attempt was a cross between Kafka and 1984, one imagines the editor was being kind by including it).

Two Hollywood based yarns, a twisted ballet, and grim obsession set amidst the crumbling days of the Third Reich.

Far as I know, this is still available (2025) from the publisher. Even signed copies!

The Village - 2004 - 6/10

Might as well say, the village of M. Night Shyamalan.
Don’t venture into the Wild Wood as there are creatures that will kill you.
Every generation is warned by village Elders.
Until one child sickens, needs medicine from another village, through the woods.
As usual with this director, there is tense buildup, suffocating atmosphere.
With a payoff, sometimes potent, or not.
Depends on how much of a fan of his you are, I guess.

Solitudo - 2020 - 6/10

Three backpackers, and “the couple” clearly keep trying to leave the other make behind.
He is hard to shake, however, and clingy. Uncool.
They break into an abandoned building for the night.
Only by morning, it is not abandoned.
Short film, not so much Horror as one haunt and loneliness.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357758

Salem’s Lot - 1979 - 7/10

One of the few good adaptations of King, especially from this period.
The middling writer returns to his hometown, just about the same time as the mysterious arrivals.
Followed by the sickness.
David Soul was perhaps too glamourous originally, but OK now since he is less remembered.

James Mason excellent as the smooth, cultured Straker.
The chief menace is seen sparingly and effectively.
While bearing a TV look in the beginning, it grows more cinematic.
By all means, watch the longest version you can, avoid the movie condensation.
And yes, there are deeper layers and societal parallels in this, should you care to look.

Alan Bennett: 90 Years On - 2024 - 7/10

Arena special that packs a lot into an hour.
Brief childhood, early ensemble Beyond The Fringe (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller).
Acting career, playwright, screenplays, teleplays.
For cinema and theatre enthusiasts, numerous clips for your wish lists.
Still alive at 90, still typing away on a manual, he is droll, perceptive and merciless.
“Two things one seldom hears about getting older.
"One’s ears get larger, and one’s dick gets smaller.”
An overall outlook, not pessimistic, yet not hopeful.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357759

Beyond The Sea - 2004 - 6/10

Curious biopic of Bobby Darin was labor-of-love for Kevin Spacey.
He is the strength, and the liability.
Singing, dancing, fully committed, and yet, his version is NOT Bobby Darin.
Chronology is rags to riches to yesterday’s man to resurrection.
Fantasy sequences, which many disliked, truly underpin the “musical” aspect.
Enjoyment may hinge on your thoughts on Spacey.
Most of us have screened biopics with actors who did not remotely resemble their famous character.

Pride & Prejudice - 2005 - 5/10

Updated retelling of Austen, everything heightened for the Emo era.
Bennet family have five daughters of varying marriage eligibility.
Beauty is Jane, brilliance is Elizabeth.
Into the rural community sweeps young Bingley and his aloof friend, Darcy.
Sparks and complications, and, per title, pride and prejudice.
Lavish costumes, dazzling cinematography, good score notwithstanding …
if you are expecting cultural reserve, this is not the version.
Nuanced characters? Not here. Faithful to Austen? Barely.
I could blame the director, or the one playing Eliza, but the liability is the time constraint.

The Black Cat - 1934 - 7/10

Following a bus accident, a young American couple and Hungarian psychiatrist are stranded in remote Austria.
Not to worry, nearby is the home of a famous architect, and friend of the psychiatrist.
Actually, the men are old and bitter adversaries. In war and in love.
The young couple become sideshow pawns, as the long curdling revenge plays out.
Exceptional set design and atmosphere fully support this dark tale.
The leads, Bela and Boris, probably their finest pairing together.
This just ducked under the Production Code, and likely would not have been released afterward.

The Machinist - 2004 - 7/10

Trevor suffers insomnia, a year long bout of it.
Profound weight loss is apparent, and his attention to work seems slipping.
The hallucinations are powerful distractions.
Not without reason, as he is pursued, he is haunted.
No one else sees these “ghosts” nor does anyone believe him.
Christian Bale frightening in this slow boil thriller
Not remotely feel-good or energizing, a draining experience.

Demon - 2015 - 6/10
AKA - Dibbuk

Python, excuse me, Piotr as he is now, travels to the village of his buddy and his soon-to-be bride, Zaneta.
While helping shift brush with an end loader, Piotr accidentally unearths an unmarked grave.
There is a human skeleton, which he covers up.
Yet the spirit, the soul, emerges, and latches itself – herself – to Piotr.
And the wedding revelries get underway. Music, alcohol, dancing, alcohol, arguments, alcohol, sex, alcohol.
Only Piotr sees the darkly beautiful wraith, clad in an older style, approaching ever nearer.
The wedding celebrations, evasions and denials, dominate the supernatural elements.
For Americans, there are no explanations. Only a cryptic history to make your own guess.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357652

The New Morality - 2015 - 6/10

Betty, suspicious that her husband might be having an affair, loudly calls the other woman a rude name.
While never quite spoken, let’s say it rhymes with itch.
A scandal in the crusty social set, circa 1911, and slander rears its head.
Both females deploy their husbands as reluctant messengers.
Starchy theatre set aboard a houseboat: cabin below and on deck.
Acid humor, although situations better grasped by those familiar with New Woman feminism.

The Witches - 1966 - 6/10

Her final experiences in Africa were horrifying.
Tribal uprising led by the witch doctor.
Safely back in England, Gwen lands the job of headmistress in the village school.

Where, drip by drip, the locals still believe, still practice, the odd pagan rites.
Almost everyone is close-lipped, yet she sees how the women view the older children.
Obsessively protective, saving them … for what?
Hammer film has good locations, fabulous color, slow buildup.
Finale proves a little too artsy for my liking, however.

3 Bad Men - 1926 - 6/10

The wagon is attacked by a pack of outlaws.
Observing from on high, three desperadoes. Horse thief, card sharp, murderer.
They arrive too late to save the helpless pioneers, save for the young girl.
Nevertheless, they befriend her, and decide to stick with her for the Dakota Land Rush.
Early John Ford Western shows his liabilities and strengths.
Corny comedy, shmaltz, plodding social values.
Then there are magnificent scenes: the mustering of the rush, the torchlit riders, the siege of innocents.
A film of glorious villains. The crooked sheriff and his corrupt cronies, and the three “bad men”.

The “girl” is a smoldering Olive Borden (distant cousin to Lizzie, really).
Love story is token, although she and O’Brien display fiery chemistry.

Operation Eichmann - 1961 - 6/10

Four years before Hogan’s Heroes Klemperer and Banner as hardcore Nazis in this.
First thirty minutes features an intense Klemperer, bigger, badder, more powerful than one might suppose.
Browbeating Hoss (Auschwitz), putting Goebbels in his place, going toe to toe with Himmler.
As the war ends, he flees with his mistress to Spain, then the ratlines.
Second half follows the Mossad, and is more angsty.
Creative license throughout; quite topical when was released, the “history” is dubious.
Bizarre watching Klink and Schultz out of character.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357653

Pinwheel Horizon - 2023 - 5/10

Arid short set on another planet, celebrating purposeless conflict.
The trio march though desert wastes facing one battle after another.
Combat without end, without reason.
Conflicts range from minimal to nonexistent.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357655

Gold Lust - 1984 - 7/10

Documentary of the Serra Pelada gold field in Brazil.
A nugget was discovered in 1979. By the time of this film, tens of thousands slaved away.
Yes, gold was found, nuggets 10 lb and heavier.
The open air pit was humongous. As was the violence, thievery, murder, squalor.
Mud, filth, avarice, delusions, despair.
Narration by Orson Welles.
Doc captures the utter depths of humanity … the potential near-future of civilization.

Up In The Air - 2009 - 6/10

Ryan is the corporate axeman.
Companies that don’t have the balls to fire employees, he is called.
Impersonal business, all the way. It’s a living.
Change is in the air, however.
How about firing employees via voicemail or text (which they now do, bastards).
Ryan argues for the “human touch”, despite his lack of empathy.
Most of this film is spot-on, Clooney sardonic and unforgettable.
Last section gets mushy, loses its spine (and a point from me).
Traveling downsizers, typically loss-prevention agents, NEVER embrace sympathy.

Around The World Under The Sea - 1966 - 5/10

Team of modern Argonauts roam the depths.
Mission: place early warning, earthquake sensors.
Cast of familiar faces struggles with a talky script, and a profound lack of action.
An onboard chess match seems more contentious than aquatic dangers.
The relationships are sheer nonsense, the “science” is comic book.
One watches mostly for Lloyd Bridges and Shirley Eaton, others less remembered.

Murders In Béarn - 2023 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres en Béarn

The corpse floats in the river, wearing an amulet of medieval legend.
Oh, and a hand has been chopped off.
Police are assigned, two females who despise each other.

Why? Their children, once married, now divorced.
Whereupon one mother had her son-in-law arrested, imprisoned, his reputation destroyed.
The murder is sorta interesting, but not enough for the film.
Thus, the soap opera dynamics.
Scenery and compositions soar above most of these French mysteries.

In Love With Alma Cogan - 2012 - 6/10

Despite the title, there ain’t no Alma, unless you count a brief flashback and lingering memory.
No, this is a traditional “theatre in trouble” trope, with the saving “let’s put on a show, gang!”
Typical of local theatre-goers, audiences are oldsters.
There is a clash of new accountancy, and a manager trying to make theatre affordable to everyday Joes.
The film is backstage and backstories. Grudges, rivalries, loyalties, and the pressure of change.
Really, this is for theatre fans, especially Rep or Regional.