Vultural

Dark City - 1950 - 6/10

Opening credits read, ‘Introducing Charlton Heston,’ but make no mistake, he is the star.
Weak faux noir from Paramount has Chuck, Jack Webb and Ed Begley fleecing a small time courier out of 5G he’s carrying for a larger, stronger mob.
The courier is soon whacked, and the easy score grows more dangerous.
Heston’s character meanders around from rat to shyster to sorta good guy.
Ex-girlfriend Lizabeth Scott sings three songs, which struck me as padding, unless she’s your kind of canary.
An OK enough drama, but if you want gloomy, fatalistic Noir, seek elsewhere.

United - 2011 - 6/10

Docudrama of Man U’s 1958 Busby’s Babies.
The young team dominates England’s pitch, journeys to Beograd for European matches.
Not really a football flick, as I had thought.
Conflict with league officials, technical issues on the aircraft, survivors bookmark the story.
This story is less well known outside England, and perhaps fading into memory now.
Characters, even those with major lines, are barely more than shades.
Actual turf action - none.
The visual image is too soft, and the color overly desaturated.

Berlin 1945: Diary Of A Metropolis - 2020 - 7/10
AKA - Berlin 1945: Tagebuch Einer Großstadt

Well done, three part WWII documentary that genuinely adds to the history.
One part sees Berlin bracing for the final Allied (Soviet) assault, another part the conflict, final third the occupation.
All told though voice actors reading from diaries, memoirs, letters, etc …
Ordinary Berlin residents, students, office workers, forced labor, doctors, journalists, soldiers from both sides.
Bolstered with photos of the writers, and a tremendous amount of unseen footage.
The tone is neutral, stoical, a trait often expressed by survivors
Again, this is one year, in one city, with multiple points of view. Essential for history types.

Alice Or The Last Escapade - 1977 - 7/10
AKA - Alice ou la Dernière Fugue

Alice Carroll walks out on her overbearing, preening, self centered husband.
The five minute intro featuring this grape munching prat will prove enough for any viewer.
Outside, rain pours in sheets, yet she hits the road heading - who knows where.
Her car breaks down, fortunately outside a manor house.
The elderly occupant and his butler make her comfortable for the night.

Next morning, things begin to slide. Faces, perceptions, even the narrow dirt lanes.
Walls rise, roads deadend, and unanswered questions perplex Alice in a surreal labyrinth.

The worst element of this haze filled, dreamlike mystery is the intrusive score.
The composer hammers down any subtlety with deafening climaxes.
Blame Charbrol for tolerating this, and yet credit him for casting Sylvia Kristel as Alice after she previously starred in two Emmanuelle films.

The Duchess - 2008 - 5/10

Surprise. Keira Knightley botches another costume drama.
This time she plays 17th century Georgiana Spenser, great-great-great – you know, of the Spenser family.
Tale of lady involved in politics and scandals, helped by great costumes and location sets.
As always, Knightley is simply too modern for such a part, showing her limited range of smirks, squints and pouts.
Everyone else is quite fine, notably Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling.
To be honest, females around me enjoyed this more than I.

One Deadly Summer - 1983 - 7/10
AKA - L’été Meurtrier

His younger brother tries to warn him. The girl is not right.
The older brother, dazzled, plunges ahead.
New family, with attractive daughter, moves into small village.
Eliane is drop dead gorgeous, and the rural Lothario’s quickly brag of bagging her.
Her interest goes to mechanic Fio, though her “hunter’s eye” is trained elsewhere.
Eliane has an agenda, of which locals are unaware, and viewers must guess.
Something to do with her family history, and a player piano.
She is also, as mentioned earlier, unstable.
Story is told by several narrators, from numerous points of view.
The director inserted random nude scenes and one odd mother/daughter moment that seem gratuitous.
Both leads are too old for their roles (Fio especially).
Problematic film still a must for sordid mystery buffs.

Best Offer - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - La Migliore Offerta

Intriguing arthouse mystery of greed, deception, obsession, fraud.
Accent on art house, as this takes place in the high end world of auctions and collectors.
Geoffrey Rush plays evaluator / owner of Sotheby’s type establishment.
He gets wind of an estate in a run down house.
Within are treasures.
A fabulously looking film that unfolds, quite literally, like a clockwork mechanism.
Russian doll story, as one level of the narrative is exposed, another is revealed.
Clues scattered in plain sight, snapping tight at the end.

The 60’s: The Beatles Decade - 2006 - 5/10

Marshmallow documentary charting the times and cultural impact of the 60’s, predominately England.
Despite title, few Beatles tunes (producers probably declined to buy the rights).
Aside from the Zombies (interviewed) most songs were by obscure groups (no, not Floyd), or they were mudleys that sorta sounded like a group or hit.
The history is chiefly pop culture and economy, fronted by talking head authors, including sourpuss Mandy Merck.
Five episodes, two years per, shallow overview may be alright for non demanding, non history buffs.
Nonetheless, one of the closing lines of the last episode haunts me –

"The 60’s was a period when democracy was a very powerful force. In the sense the guys at the top with money and power, the multi-nationals and so on, began to realize that the threat to their privileges and power wasn’t a Red Invasion, Russian invasion, but democracy itself.”
Tony Benn - Labour MP 1950-2001

Rich Hall’s Workin’ For The American Dream - 2018 - 7/10

American expat living in Britain, Mr Hall extols the mystery, history and misery of the so-called American Dream.
Hall is an acerbic satirist in the best tradition of Ambrose Bierce.
Work hard, work long, and one day you’ll reap your great reward.
Really? Do people still believe that? Or does Barnum’s jeer at suckers ring down the ages?
Most of Hall’s specials are essential viewing, whether you live in the USofA , or not.
This is 90 minutes of funny, vicious and uncomfortable.
Curiously, Rich skips from the 1950’s straight to the 1970’s, bypassing the 60’s.

May The Devil Take You - 2018 - 5/10
AKA - Sebelum Iblis Menjemput

Lesmana invites a priestess (sorceress, witch) into his home and makes a deal.
The price for fortune, however, will be souls. Plural.
Soon, prosperity. After his wife dies, he scores a trophy wife, an actress.
All things pass, though, and even fun times have their endings.
As this went on, viewing became a huge chore.
Nonstop screaming and bug-eyed terror
Knockoff horror may be OK for drive-in mavens.
Otherwise, this suggests Indonesian fright films are hitting a dry patch.

About Time - 2013 - 6/10

Upon his 21st birthday, Tim is informed males in his family have always been able to time travel.
Not go into the future, only the past. Only their own past, and even then there are a few restrictions which he discovers.
What he really has is a “reset switch.” Return to the near past, for example, and correct dating faux pas.
Warm, feel good movie from the folks who brought you Four Weddings and Love Actually.
Humor offset by sentimentality, bittersweet, and tragic moments.
For pure laugh out loud fare, this ain’t it.
That said, others around me who watched this did laugh out loud, teared up, and applauded at the end.
Members of other forums praised this to the sky.
Yeah, like I care. Once a curmudgeon …

Radio Days - 1987 - 8/10

Shimmering 40’s nostalgia. My go-to suggestion for people who say they don’t like Woody Allen films.
Tall tales and anecdotes from Old Time Radio’s golden age.
Interspersed with various members of a struggling Rockaway family.
Comic situations and laughs come fast and often, with tons of cameos (Tito Puente, Kitty Carlisle, Diane Keaton, Wally Schawn).
Likely the most personal of Allen’s films, or at least the most revealing of his childhood, and early years as a gag writer.
Highly exaggerated, to be sure, but packed with unforgettable moments.

Lady In White - 1962 - 6/10
AKA - White Lady // Vita Frun

Though listed and discussed at various Noir sites, this Swedish film is more a whodunit.
Reminiscent of creaky manor mysteries of the early 1930’s, with a dollop of Gothic.
Family and high placed associates gather for the reading of the will.
From delighted to disappointed to distraught.
Warnings are followed by corpses.
The large estate and grounds are a maze of back hallways, listening tunnels, and half glimpsed figures.
Music is a strange mix of combo jazz, wordless chorus and electronic.
Everyone is out for gain, nefarious business during late nights and in the nearby swamps.
Old fashioned, drawing room clichés, evident throughout, may be fun for fans of this type.

City Of Tiny Lights - 2016 - 6/10

Hypnotic, neo-Noir, set primarily in the neon nights of London.
Private Eye Akhtar is hired by a hooker to find her missing colleague, last seen with a new john.
What Akhtar finds is a dead body, then a cover-up, followed by a string of individuals demanding to know what else he saw.
Rabbit hole story with numerous angles and perspectives.
Akhtar leads viewers into the dimly lit multicultural enclaves of London, and into his traumatic past.
Other viewers scored this poorly, stating they could not understand the dialogue. Get subtitles.
Cinematography shimmers throughout, recalling 1999’s Wonderland.

Q2 has often been protective of his links.
Do as oojason suggests. Send him a PM at FE.
You should have a decent post count there, as well.
General minimum is 10. 25 would be better.
Rookies don’t get much love.

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden - 2013 - 6/10

In 1929, Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch abandon Berlin for remote islands, to escape civilization.
Back to the earth, man versus nature, in vogue at the time, especially in Germany.
A year on, articles were published about their Eden and paradise existence, and that drew newcomers.
Documentary of the conflicts, resentments, and eventual disappearance of individuals.
Filmmakers work diligently to make this footnote seem compelling, though it is more a curio, despite the heady aroma of tropical sexual abandon.
Amazing period footage (how did that survive, who kept them?), including a silent pirate movie!
Interviewees include modern day inhabitants who speculate as well as you or I.

Of note to the decadents.
After the sinister disappearance, neighbors argued that the individual never - ever - would have left without taking their favorite book. The book that accompanied them everywhere, was their good luck charm, was still in their cabin.

Surreal - 2017 - 5/10

Confusing short of encounter in the snowy woods.
The man is clearly on the run, when he realizes a young girl follows.
She barely speaks, leaving one to wonder who she is, or what she is.
Is she a Fate, a ghost, a fetch, a spirit?
Some living, quiet catastrophe that haunts the desolation.

Blue Jasmine - 2013 - 7/10

Meticulously composed, beautifully acted tale of sheltered character’s tumble from the rarefied strata to the take-out life.
Aside from Blanchett’s standout performance, everyone is top notch, especially some of the surprise casting.
Baldwin gets overlooked a bit, yet his presence is always felt, and his absence more so.
Wonderful cinematography. The lushness of Jasmine’s gilt life contrasts with the cramped, dime store world her sister inhabits.
Plot wise, Allen holds revelations till the end, and one feels attitudes and allegiances to characters shift.
Ostensibly a spiral yarn, the skeleton of the story keeps the viewer returning to the rarefied sphere throughout.

Wonderland - 1999 - 7/10

Three sisters, one married, one divorced, one single, meet up periodically to catch up.
Fairy tale does not describe their daily grind.
And yet, they still hope, they put themselves “out there,” whether dating or siring.
Dating in the 90’s. Prospective princes are a countless lot.
Very few Mr. Rights, or Right-Now, just blunted encounters.
The photography is hypnotic, the street scenes immersive.
Fabulous film, this is the bitter tonic to RomComs.
The flower of romance here seems a lonely bloom struggling in the wastes.

New World - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - Hangul // 신세계

Powerful criminal gang head dies in sudden accident, and the throne is vacant.
Police see this as an opportunity to break up the powerful gang from within.
Because – the police have infiltrated it.
Echoes of many yakuza and triad films, particularly Infernal Affairs.
A masculine cast of major S Korean actors exude macho.
Violence tends to splash in bursts in overlong, poky film, with too many minor characters.
If you decide to give this a look, watch for late twists.

Grand Piano - 2013 - 6/10

Variation on the “locked room” mystery.
Reclusive pianist (Elijah Wood) makes a stage comeback after his mentor’s death.
Once onstage, he sees a written note and earpiece, then warnings to play faultlessly or die.
A laser on the sheet music, and silencer gun strike on the floor convince him.
Clues arrive slowly, as do reasons. More tension than action, with the narrative rarely leaving the stage.
OK time waster if the only alternative is television fodder.
John Cusack provides the voice of the villain.

The Hunt - 2012 - 7/10
AKA - Jagten

Harrowing character study, with Mads Mikkelsen as kindergarten teacher.
After a five year old tells that he showed his erection, his life is royally and totally frakked.
Barring a miracle, there is no way a blot like that will ever wash clean.
Everyone in the village turns against him. Though it never said why, one suspects he could not leave while police investigations were ongoing. So he lived amidst escalating resentment, fear and hatred.
Almost to a soul, everyone took the child’s story as gospel.
This gets really ugly.

^

I saw this happen first hand, when a regular customer of the store where I worked was accused by a twelve year old. He was a math teacher, and completely exonerated.
Transpired the student launched accusations after being displeased with poor grades.
The man was released by the school, the district would not employ him, he could not find work within 100 miles.
He eventually relocated across the country.
Couple years later, a rep from the school district visited the music store.
District honchos had heard there were five guys with BA degrees in Art, English, and History, toiling for budget wages.
The district was desperate for male, “role model” teachers.
Despite financial proposals that were quadruple our meager record store salary, we all refused.
Citing how every single year, it seemed some poor male teacher was accused, cleared, yet ruined.
The stench of accusal, especially related to children, NEVER disappears.
^

Happy-Go-Lucky - 2008 - 6/10

Elementary school teacher, Poppy, laughs with friends and starts taking driving lessons.
Everything is a joke to her. She smirks, giggles, pops everyone’s “serious balloon.”
When others try to stress a point (as in a lesson) she makes monkey faces and belittling comments.
Unctuous, supercilious, 30 year old Poppy lingers as a perpetual thirteen year old.
Very much the female equivalent of Mr. Poppy from the Nativity franchise.
Sally Hawkins terrific in this, as I have known actual souls like her character (in their 30’s - 70’s).
Eternal juveniles.
This film seems embraced by optimists and the ever-hopeful.

Meru - 2015 - 7/10

Mountain film.
Like Everest, Meru is in the Himalayas.
Unlike Everest, there are no servants (sherpas) to coddle rich wannabees, or torrents of pissing, trash tossing, selfie stick waving dickwits.
Nope, this doc follows three climbers, on their own, trying to surmount one of the last virgin peaks on the planet.
Narration outweighs outdoor scenery in this, though the three men are more personable than other rock crawlers.
Film excels at showing hardships, exhaustion, and the risks from overextending your limits.
Extras include a cheerful tour of the cramped, frigid porta-ledge, suspended over oblivion.
I see a fair amount of climbing flicks. This, for me, is a rarity as the men here are rugged old school, self reliant, not dependent on dozens of paid slaves to do the grunt work.

Kingdom: Ashin Of The North - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Kingdom: Ashinjeon // 킹덤: 아신전

Well now, this was unexpected!
A side story to the K-drama, The Kingdom.
In the far north of Joseon, a young girl comes across the Resurrection Plant.

What follows is her story, and that of her village, caught between the struggling Joseon empire and the rising Pajeowi.
Excellent horror thriller, but viewers familiar with the series proper will better appreciate.
The writing shines, as this stitches and links the first season and the second.
Really well done.
If curious, I suggest you shun over-sharing reviews.