Is there anyone that has a copy that they could share with me?
Is ssj no longer active at FE?
The Spy Who Fell To Earth - 2019 - 7/10
Mesmerizing documentary for history buffs, mystery hounds, conspiracy types.
The unmasking of a superspy who was involved in the Six Day War (1967) and later Yom Kipper War (1973).
Both Israel and Egypt claim Ashraf Marwan was “their guy.”
And seeing how he fell to his death in 2007 (pushed, thrown, jumped), viewers do not hear his side.
Instead, we listen to a passel of talking heads from various security branches – utterly reliable, of course.
The producer does an inspired job of rewinding periodically, establishing contradictory points of view.
I never made up my mind about his loyalty, but my interest never flagged.
Sleeping Beauty - 2011 - 5/10
Somnambulant, artsy excuse for soft core nudity.
College student, working three jobs, decides to work at exclusive dinner parties.
From there, she opts for drugged sleep, allowing wrinkled and bony old men to embrace.
Slow paced and pretentious, with no understanding of character motivations.
Based somewhat on Kawabata’s novel, House Of Sleeping Beauties.
Matango - 1963 - 7/10
AKA - Attack Of The Mushroom People // マタンゴ
Seven went a’sailing and encountered heavy storms.
They wound up stranded on a deserted isle in the middle of nowhere.
Only it was not so deserted.
Classic Japanese horror film with anti-drug subtext, hints of cold war experiments, nuclear fallout, Lord Of The Flies, …
As starvation clamps down, food choices narrow to forest mushrooms.
Color film, but as black and white it is far creepier.
Corruption - 1968 - 5/10
Brilliant surgeon is engaged to top fashion model.
At a Swinging London happening, an arc light topples and sizzles the model’s face.
Wait a minute! Her fiancé, the surgeon, he’s brilliant, remember?
The doctor begins to harvest tissue, the fresher the better.
Interesting time capsule curio gradually turns mad, insanely mad.
As bad as the script seems, the direction is ridiculous.
There is a lengthy chase at one point. It goes on too long, but rather than trim, this is simply sped up. I asked aloud, “Where’s Benny Hill?”
This pales next to the last act and the ludicrous finale.
Poor Peter Cushing, what was he thinking?
Two Weeks - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - Toowickseu // 투윅스[
K-drama, patterned after “The Fugitive” finds petty level criminal accused of murder.
This is not the first time he’s taken the fall, but it is the first time he realizes he will be killed in prison.
In a traffic accident, he makes his break!
Straight off, he ain’t Dr. Richard Kimble. He has a criminal record, is involved with criminals, and is a gigolo.
Over the episodes, his backstory gets teased out, showing the many people he has disappointed.
The first half has stronger pacing and is a hard moving thriller. I really appreciate that he was unable to get out of his handcuffs for a few episodes. Most shows – five minutes, free!
I’m sure I got this because Kim So-Yeon plays the obsessed prosecutor. She was the ice cold N Korean agent in 2009’s IRIS. Her acting borders on hysterics here, everyone else is fine.
Not quite by the numbers, but predictable. Certainly acceptable for casual viewers.
A Bird Of The Air - 2011 - 6/10
A parrot flies through Lyman’s open trailer door and into his life.
He works midnight shift as rescue patrol on deserted New Mexico highways.
Lyman is also an orphan, with no idea of his parents, his background, family history.
With the aid of a perky librarian (aren’t they all), he begins to track the bird’s previous owners,
trying to solve one mysterious beginning to compensate for his own.
Quirky love story, comedy, character study.
Free Solo - 2018 - 7/10
Stunning mountain climbing documentary, and I have viewed more than I want to.
This follows simply the best free climber in the world. No hammers, hooks, pylons, clamps. No rope.
Handhold, foothold, finger, toehold.
Awesome! Note, however, the life expectancy of this small group is not lengthy.
Without a rope, even the tiniest error …
The subject, the emotionless Alex Honnold, is far from likeable. Fellow climbers refer to him as Spock.
What drives him? He cracks the door a slice when he mentions his “bottomless pit of self loathing.”
Blonde girlfriend Sanni, who receives a fair amount of screen time, seems mismatched.
As expected, scenery is breathtaking. Unbelievable.
Hooligans: The Untold Story - 2006 - 7/10
Documentary of the 2006 World Cup, set in Germany.
Security types keep 3000 troublemakers from arriving.
That ought to cover everyone, right?
Riots, brawls, fights, melees.
And bars never stopped serving beer, even amidst flying chairs.
Rumble!
Various (Editor: Jarvis, Timothy) - Uncertainties Volume 4
A collection that, for me, unfortunately, mirrored its title in that many times I was uncertain if the works included were actually stories.
Some lacked narrative, others had protagonists who were less than bare sketches (yes, short stories have limitations). Most struck me as overly vague. The pile of dust in a dark corner of an empty room of an abandoned house.
My chief gripe is I was rarely engaged. Or am I too bourgeois?
Yes, I realize these were earnestly written, and not simply “attempts” that litter the zines.
Anyway, I stubbornly push onward, my work ethic compelling me to finish, be it a bad meal, bad date, dull movie, or concerts with drunken, inept musicians.
I get to Wilkinson and implore aloud, “Charles, please,” and at that point Uncertainties pivots.
A yarn of pacts, portents and curses.
Another of lost girls (which should strike a chord with Canadian readers, who have seen thousands of young girls disappear).
Another where one’s very breath can mask a hideous evil, restrained except for duress.
This clutch was a mixed bag for me. This time of year, more tricks than treats.
Arctic - 2018 - 7/10
Mads Mikkelsen as Overgård, alone in a polar wasteland, stoically waiting / hoping for rescue.
His makeshift camp lies inside airplane wreckage, he catches fish when he can.
Lone neighbor, seen in the distance, is a lumbering polar bear, also hunting.
Ostensibly an endurance story, one can see how this might perplex lazy viewers.
Unlike a Hollywood film, there is no backstory. No memories of wife, girlfriend, plane crash.
Monologue is spare, Overgård is taciturn and ordinary, not some heroic survivalist.
In short, no spoon-feeding for an audience of limited imagination.
Band Of Assassins - 1962 - 6/10
AKA - Shinobi no Mono // 忍びの者
Fast paced action in feudal Japan.
Warlord Nobunaga overpowers rival houses and crushes opposition alliances.
The emperor seems a target, as do the ninja fortresses.
Narrative follows ninja attempts to thwart, stall, stop Nobunaga as the wily family chief orders Goemon (peerless Ichikawa Raizo) to assassinate the ruthless chieftain.
Skills dominate over magic. Treachery is the main tool, as well as manipulation, sexual and emotional.
Followed by numerous sequels and a craze for ninjas. 007 fans will recognize sequences later cribbed for You Only Live Twice.
The Man From Beyond - 1922 - 5/10
Harry Houdini silent.
Legendary escape artist made a number of films, but this was not his best.
Houdini, discovered in an Arctic shipwreck is chopped out of a huge chuck of ice.
After thawing, he revives, and it turns out he has been there since 1820. 100 years.
In no time flat, he finds a female who resembles his long lost flame.
Plot detours into reincarnation territory, one of Houdini’s obsessions.
A cliff hanging sequence (literally) and swim near the top of Niagara Falls are highlights.
25th Reich - 2012 - 3/10
There was the Third Reich, followed eventually by the 25th Reich.
Yep, more Nazis. Wish writers could come up with new baddies.
This lacked the budget of Iron Sky and looks it.
During WWII, a squad of US GIs in Australia (?!?) are hunting two escaped pumas (cats, not slightly older women).
Yes, glorified dog catchers, the Army’s finest.
First hour is all walk n talk. Endless trudging montages, followed by 5-10 minutes of exposition to advance the plot. Yawn.
Last 20 minutes, the film roars into overdrive.
Nazis, space ships, gunfights, time travel, spider tanks, disturbing sex, cliffhanger. Bad CGI.
You already know how feeble you are. If you are still reading, hunt down this turkey.
Mystère à la Tour Eiffel - 2017 - 6/10
There are a series of these Mystère films. In the Louvre, At The Opera . . .
Ostensibly chick flick mysteries, these fall into the subgenre of “frock films.”
Meaning, like the Miss Fisher series, aficionados watch these to admire the wardrobe.
I will try to limit myself to this lone review.
There are a handful of murders in late 19th century Paris.
All would be considered “locked room” affairs.
The obvious culprit is the attractive, young blonde.
Magicians play a role, detectives are dim witted, and our heroine finds shelter in an underground lesbian enclave.
Narrative is generic, twists are implausible, the clothes - I admit - are very nice.
Night Wind - 1999 - 5/10
AKA - Le Vent de la Nuit
Pretentious French twaddle with Catherine Deneuve and Xavier Beauvois.
Deneuve has an affair with a younger man, because she is bored, or dead inside.
The young man describes himself as an artist, when he is not even an assistant.
Then there’s a 60’s burnout.
Tedious slog with stagnant pond characters.
Deneuve remains attractive, but she cannot illuminate the whole film.
The Motive - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - El Autor
Álvaro has literary aspirations.
Not getting published in some ezine, not landing a bestseller. No. LITERATURE, full stop.
But, he doesn’t really have the talent, or ideas, or rich memories to mine from.
Instead, he begins observing neighbors in his apartment, then manipulates them.
Character study of a classic meddler, and not the sanctimonious or well-intentioned sort.
Far more absorbing than the typical “writer” plot, as this guy is a real piece of work.
At times infuriating, always uncomfortable.
Mysterious Doctor Satan - 1940 - 5/10
Vintage Republic serial.
The Copperhead tries to save the earth from Doctor Satan.
Satan intends to conquer the planet using robots that resemble and move like drunken trash cans.
Copperhead is secretly Bob Wayne (unknown if he was related to Bruce Wayne). No one else knows, even though he’ll be Bob one second, then bound in as Copperhead, still wearing the same suit and tie. His voice is not disguised, and Copperhead drives Bob’s cars!
Most action is of the fisticuff variety.
Not the best, though I’ve sat through worse.
Hell Girl - 2006 - 5/10
AKA - Jigoku Shōjo // 地獄少女
J-dorama adaptation of popular anime series.
At midnight, seekers of Hell Girl key in her website and one lucky soul is answered.
By and large, all desire revenge, or justice.
Summoned, Hell Girl hands them a wooden fetish with a red ribbon around it.
Untie the ribbon, and your target is ferried immediately to Hell.
Payment – damnation. Those who untie the ribbon will spend eternity in Hell once they die.
Episodes, without credits, run a scant 20 minutes…
Stories are generic, young actors get their chance, veterans overact, sets are cheap.
Low expectations justified.
Sweet Karma - 2009 - 6/10
AKA - Сладкая Cудьба
Dark revenge exploitation flick, recalling grindhouse fare from the 70’s.
Russian girl, Karma, goes to Toronto searching for her sister.
Sis had signed a contract for that great paying housekeeping job.
Which turned out to be sex trade.
Naked women, pole dancing, strip clubs, rapes, fish net n leather.
Karma follows the trail of revenge. Knives, tire irons, strangling.
Old school vengeance. Nothing original. Film stock poor, look is appropriately grainy.
Greta - 2018 - 6/10
Young woman spies forgotten purse on subway seat and decides to return it to the owner.
And no, she is not a native urban dweller, but newly arrived, living with more cynical roommate.
The owner of the purse is a Parisian expat, missing her daughter.
The young girl has a similar ache in her heart, her mother being recently dead.
Bonding is swift.
Dark thriller is effective for awhile, when the tension of uncertainly predominates.
Sooner or later, though, filmmakers have to reveal the mystery, and they play a weak hand.
Corridor Of Mirrors - 1948 - 6/10
Surreal, dreamlike, hypnotic film, set mostly in a gargantuan house (think TARDIS interior).
Gay young nymph meets reclusive, mysterious man at swank club.
Their affair borders on obsession, climaxing in a decadent 14th Century Venetian masquerade.
Great use of sets, shadows, atmospheric music, and Madame Tussaud’s.
Creature From The Haunted Sea - 1961 - 4/10
Thrill as shipboard romance is terrorized by google eyed monster demanding girl scout cookies!!
Oops, wait, sorry.
Cuban generalissimo, fleeing Castro’s revolution with crate of gold, hires crooked American skipper.
Avarice swiftly swells to homicide, while a gruesome, unforgettable horror trawls in their wake.
Grade-D garbage from Roger Corman, filmed after he lensed two other films and still had another week of shooting time available in Puerto Rico.
Later marketed as a comedy, the humor is moronic and stupid.
As a Horror flick, c’mon as scary as an angry Brillo pad (which was what the creature costume was).
Okatsu The Fugitive - 1969 - 6/10
AKA - Yôen dokufu-den: Okatsu kyôjô tabi // 妖艶毒婦伝 お勝兇状旅
Third part of a copycat trilogy.
Expert swordswoman, Okatsu, seeks revenge after murder of her parents (again) and a rape at the hands of the feudal lord.
Plot involves tobacco smuggling and seizing villagers for slave labor.
Carnage at the end, but no gushing geysers, typical of chanbara from that period.
Joanna And Jennifer: Absolutely Champers - 2017 - 6/10
Holiday bonbon from Pats and Eddy. Oops, Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders.
In this documentary, the ladies travel to France. What region? Champagne!
They tour several vineyards, including their quaff of choice, Bollinger.
Muddling excursion doesn’t really go anywhere, yet goes down smooth.
Lumley, as one might expect, is an experienced and professional host. Saunders often lapses into Edina buffoonery and frivolous remarks.
Fine for fans of the Ab Fab series, certainly superior to the bloated 2016 movie.