Vultural

The Spiral Staircase - 1946 - 6/10

Gothic thriller from RKO, if a bit stodgy at times.
Robert Siodmak, who helmed a clutch of excellent Noirs, gives this turn of the century gem a nicely creepy feel.
A mysterious, serial killer targets handicapped females.
Next on his list, apparently, is the mute servant girl working in the mansion on the town outskirts.
A thunderstorm howls outside, the family within are not what they seem.
In short, any of them could be the murderer.
Superb lighting, evocative score, a pervasive sense of doom, satisfying for traditionalists.

Genocide - 1982 - 6/10

Overview of the Holocaust, cloaked during World War II conflict.
Well intentioned documentary suffers a couple of problems.
Narrators. Orson Welles is fine. Years of radio work (Mercury Theatre, Suspense, Harry Lime), his voice is well honed. Elizabeth Taylor sometimes murmurs or whispers, unless she goes over-the-top melodramatic.
Visuals. Split screen usage is well done. Too many times, however, an image fills a small area of the screen.
Despite flaws, worth a watch, especially since our future seems poised for an ugly repeat.

Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia - 2012 - 5/10

Family (Ma, Pa and female young un) move to banged up ranch house out in the swamp.
There is an empty trailer nearby, so when wife’s sister (Katee Sackoff) rolls up she has a place.
From the get-go, there are ghosts, weird animal traps, visions, coupled with the slow revelation. The females all share the “gift” for seeing beyond this world.
The plot really doesn’t amount to much, though the effects team went hog wild with noises, shaky camera, juttering images, to make you think something was happening.
OK time waster if nothing else is on.
I yanked out the atlas. Connecticut is 1000 miles from Georgia, the film’s title is meaningless.

Enola Holmes - 2020 - 6/10

Sherlock and Enola share a moment, before the narrative throttles up.
Better than anticipated new thread of the family Holmes.
Youngest child Enola (alonE) wakes to discover mother has disappeared.
Summoned brother Mycroft takes charge. Telling Sherlock to find mother, while he opts to send highly independent Enola to a repressive finishing school.
Sure enough, Enola takes off for London to locate Mom on her own.
Fast moving narrative is hardly canon (Sherlock is faithful enough, Mycroft is badly rewritten).
Shows a degree of political correctness, but not irritatingly so.
Seems aimed a younger viewers. Adults can watch without cringing.

35 Days: S01 - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - 35 Diwrnod

Slow burn, par excellence.
Pocket community lives in an affluent close (dead-end circle).
Residents are a checkered lineup of sinners and stone throwers.
New arrival, an attractive air hostess, upsets a precarious balance.
Men start sniffing, women pull out tally sheets.
No spoiler - the opening scene, viewers see a female sprawled on the floor, possibly dead.
Next, we are immediately propelled back 35 days and the story plays out.
Artfully written as motives surface and suspects grow.
Enjoyable, sour series from Wales (get subs!) will delight Scandinavian Noir buffs.

The Maltese Falcon - 1931 - 5/10

First filmed version of Hammett’s novel remains faithful to the plot.
Riccardo Cortez’s Spade is a breezy, cheery private eye, though.
Maybe because client Ruth Wonderly (the very steamy Bebe Daniels) runs short of hard currency, but offers soft assets in exchange. Note the date, this was PreCode.
No wonder Sam is so happy.
Next morning, while she sleeps one off, detective Spade rummages through her belongings, digging for clues.
Film not bad, not good either. Drags at times.
Cortez either miscast or misdirected.
In or out of clothes, Bebe remains easy on the eyes.

The Colossus Of New York - 1958- 5/10

Father is a brain surgeon, the eldest is an automation engineer, but he youngest is hailed as the brilliant genius, because he endeavors to solve world hunger!
Alas, after he returns from receiving his Nobel prize, he is killed in a traffic accident.
Or is he? Dad is a brain surgeon, after all, and the brother can create a huge robot.
Not as bad as some decry, yet this is ploddingly slow, crawling from one listless scene to another.
Energetic final three minutes not enough compensation.
Actually, what I did enjoy was the Van Cleave score. Largely Impressionistic piano.

Sense And Sensibility - 1995 - 6/10

I have probably viewed this twenty times.
Over the years, I have grown more and more disenchanted with it, due to two headliners.
Alan Rickman’s Colonel Brandon is portrayed as rather weak and incompetent, not to mention he was way too old to be a proper suitor for Kate Winslet’s Marianne Dashwood (Rickman was 30 years older than Winslet).
A much bigger problem is with writer / star Emma Thompson who cast herself as 19 year old Elinor Dashwood. Thompson was 36 when the film released, and matronly at that.
There is still a lot to appreciate in this version. Scenery, outstanding support (though Hugh Grant sleepwalks his role), great score, costume design, even the direction - and I do not like Ang Lee.
This used to be such a favorite, I wish it were still so.
The 2008 adaptation has a lot more going for it, though the role of the dashing Willoughby was somewhat miscast.

Sense And Sensibility - 2008 - 7/10

Excellent three part series of the Jane Austen costume drama.
More than holds its own with the Ang Lee / Emma Thompson version, but marred by a fatal casting choice.
Being longer, more characters and incidents entered the narrative. Some useful (Lucy Steele’s sister, an opening erotic moment), some useless (a pointless duel).
Story follows a family of females after their father dies and they are displaced from the manor.
Their mother was wife #2, and English estates always pass into male hands.
The family struggles to survive in “good society,” the daughters on, perhaps, finding romance.
Cast is uniformly fine, though Dominic Cooper seems miscast as Willoughby.
His character lacks panache, and comes across a rather oily on the screen. I could not buy him as a heartbreaker.

Six Minutes To Midnight - 2020 - 6/10

Lightweight espionage thriller suffers from insufficient plot.
On the eve of WWII, daughters of influential Reich commanders are in an elite English finishing school.
What if war breaks out? What will happen to those Aryan beauties?
Overly padded story (including an extended, lackadaisical chase) is dull.
Actor / writer / co-producer Eddie Izzard gave himself the lion’s share of scenes in fluff history.

Neon Demon - 2016 - 5/10

Listed as Horror / Thriller. Say what?
I got this hoping for fashion arthouse Horror. What a fool believes.
Dewy eyed miss wanders Los Angeles hoping to make it as high fashion model.
Success is overnight, everything else is glacial. Pace is mind numbing slow.
On the couture end, clothes look off the J C Penney’s rack.
Inventive composition, angles, colors? No, just colored light filters.
Nick Knight, Annie Leibowitz, Grace Coddington, et al have nothing to fear from this twaddle.

The Beautiful Troublemaker - 1991 - 6/10
AKA - La Belle Noiseuse

Overlong arthouse fare that will tax your endurance.
Once famous, now less fashionable, painter returns to an unfinished project.
A fresh model awakens inspiration, though he cannot find the line.
This is four hours of the creative process, and will certainly not appeal to all.
I recall feeling cheated by the end (I first viewed during the original run).
One artist friend deemed it a masterpiece, another said it was like watching paint dry.
Revisiting this did not improve my opinion, though this is like watching a master at work.

Various (Editor: Beech, Mark) - Crooked Houses

Multiple tales of the house, the estate, or the residents within, where a fissure ruptures the foundation.
In “The Sullied Plane” new bride Maxine marvels at how pristine, how perfect, her in-law’s manor is. Perfection extracts a price, however, which she impulsively attempts to uncover.
“The Shepherd’s House” is actually unseen, yet the gnarled owner, the Shepherd, has been witnessed for centuries. And those who spy the Shepherd succumb to terror.
Mother is a faded Southern belle, highly strung, riddled with delusions. In her childhood, she had fashioned a construct, as well as a pact, with her brother – her precious brother – the golden son. When he mysteriously summons her, Mother hurries her family to “The Psychomanteum.”
Owen, Mandy and son Adam move into the run down house. A fixer-upper to be sure, but more Importantly a fresh start. Owen blusters good cheer and optimism, while Adam broods, mourns the old home, and clings to his mother. Mandy, the close lipped sort, nestles in the cellar where she crafts a “Doll’s House.”
“At Lothesley, Montgomeryshire, 1910,” the house exists as more shell than ruin, and had been for more than one hundred years. The Crown wonders if it is worth preserving, so they dispatch a professor, conscientious if less than careful with things that ought not be disturbed.
“House Of Sand” strikes me as the most Aickmanesque of the stories. Told by an unreliable narrator, the impressive home and well heeled guests seem to alter every half hour.

Whore - 1991 - 6/10

Spare study of cynical prostitute.
Dealings with difficult johns, her handlers, tribulations, personal history.
Severe budget restraints are evident, and the look favors glamour over seedy.
Theresa Russell seems closer to a high tier call girl, rather than a street walker.
Many of the comments are laugh out loud funny. Once edgy film, tame now.
Viewed after seeing Pretty Woman, this is an acid rebuke.
Ken Russell provides a droll cameo as a waiter, sir!

Ghost In The Shell Arise: Border 4 - Ghost Stands Alone - 2014 - 5/10

Stumbling, repetitive conclusion to groundbreaking franchise.
Finale prequel to the original finds the unit mostly assembled.
Kusanagi, Batou, et al, just before joining Section 9.
Usual themes of identity, cyber consciousness, terrorism, intelligence hacking.
Some visuals quite beautiful, other scenes are static. Characters sitting in a bare room, talking.
Action is minimal, the plot is borrowed bits and pieces from earlier shows.
Not essential, even for GITS fans.

Traitor - 2008 - 6/10

Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce star in terrorist / espionage thriller.
American Muslim Cheadle, after suffering a crisis of faith, switches sides and helps terror cell in Yemen.
Pearce the CIA op tracking him down.
Solid location photography, tense cat and mouse plot, several twists.
Well acted all around, and seemingly unbiased, but I never got involved with any of the characters.

Walk A Tightrope - 1964 - 6/10

Middling crime mystery sees female stalked by man with a gun in his pocket.
Does she go to the nearest copper? No, she heads into a pub.
Not to reveal too much, there is a murder soon thereafter, and the killer demands payment.
Straight off, we know who did it, just not why.
Dan Duryea, in the twilight of a long career, before a string of TV appearances, is the best element in this.
Once he gets going, he bristles with energy. Everyone else is muted. As is the film itself.

L’Argent - 1983 - 6/10
AKA - Money

Sorry, I ain’t buying this.
Ostensibly, we follow counterfeit money as it passes various hands.
From the gullible to the devious to the sly to the trusting.
Moralizing film studying human reactions.
For skeptical souls, behavior is predictable, especially if your opinions of humanity are low.
Narrative settles on one character and his path, which sinks preposterous.

Manson - 2009 - 5/10

Lightweight documentary about Manson family as told by Linda Kasabian.
She has been in hiding since the 60’s.
Perhaps interesting if you know zero about the group.
Ed Sander’s “Family” remains definitive on the early Manson era.
Prosecutor Bugliosi’s “Helter Skelter” is the one to read for the trial.

Barnes, Colin - Dead Five’s Pass

When a new cave, hitherto undiscovered, opens up, cavers scramble to see who can explore first.
No one wonders, how did his opening suddenly appear?
Nor does anyone consider whether it is uninhabited.
Brisk novella has strong pulpy roots, and borrows heavily from HPL.
Two characters are granted superficial development. All others are dinner specials … meals.

Get Luke Lowe - 2020 - 5/10

Bit of a vengeance tale, cloaked in fashionable woke.
After being trolled and bullied, Sadie commits suicide online.
Her friends kidnap the troll – Luke – then attempt to force him to “confess.”
When he proves recalcitrant, they escalate with more violent techniques.
Heavy handed, preachy at times, spotty acting.
Creators try too hard with message film, end up being somewhat hypocritical.

The Body Collector - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - De Zaak Menten

Based on true story of ex-Nazi collaborator living privileged retirement.
By chance, a Netherlands journalist follows the whisper and begins exploring the past.
Bloodsoaked theft of art, primarily paintings.
Confronting the rich with powerful connections and ample funds, however, there’s the rub.
Absorbing throughout, and the film does not flinch from SS activities in the Jewish village in Poland.
Strives for an emotional impact, but an air of detachment undercuts this.

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet - 2012 - 5/10
AKA - Vous n’avez Encore Rien Vu

Only myself to blame for this pretentious two hour artsy film.
Deceased director summons ex-actors to view a modern production of one of his works, based on Orpheus And Eurydice. While they watch, they reimagine their own versions.
Sometimes, you are watching three versions of the same scene.
The look is theatrical, stagebound, indoors.
Very fine acting from France’s creme de la creme of actors, yet I was increasingly bored.

A Killer’s Key - 1967 - 6/10
AKA - Aru Koroshiya no Kagi // ある ころしや の かぎ

A yakuza moneyman, in police custody, is about to reveal evidence that will convict mobsters and politicians.
The bosses hire a hitman, who also happens to be a dance teacher.
Correct, a dance teacher. Whom they intend to snuff after the job.
Raizô Ichikawa memorable as the cool, almost detached assassin.
Film is more the mechanics of death, rather than explosive violence.
Packed with details (geishas, rock clubs, fights) the movies rushes along.
Dry sense of humor may elude some. Retribution for welshers, if only.

Fair Isle: Living On The Edge - 2016 - 6/10

Breeders needed! Tiny island in northern Britain is looking for newcomers.
Current population is 57, not counting the sheep.
Power goes off at nights. Owing to storms, sometimes the island is cut off for weeks.
Just to keep the island going, inhabitants must do 3 - 4 - 5 jobs.
Isolation? Plenty. Awe inspiring nature? This is the place.
Mind you, during summer scenes many still wore jackets. Winter? Lordy.
Two part series of inhabitants fighting valiantly to maintain their community.