Vultural

Graduate First … - 1978 - 6/10
AKA - Passe Ton Bac d’abord…

The young and their plans. Big talk, big aspirations.
Less so, here.
Late teens face their bac exams (never shown, by the way), and start trudging toward adulthood.
Casual relationships, narrowing futures, family life, vacations.
There are too many characters to keep track of, and none are memorable.
More confusing, a few resemble each other, and fewer have strong personalities.
Not a bad film, though the experience is that of eavesdropping on average individuals.

Suntan - 2016 - 6/10

The inversion of “coming of age” story.
During Christmas, Kostis arrives on small Greek island as the new doctor.
The village is sleepy, with 800 residents and he is mostly to himself.
With summer, the population explodes with sun loving turistas.
Kostis treats an injured young girl, and gradually becomes obsessed with her.
His overweight, extremely pale self shows at the beach where she and her friends loll nude.
He splashes into pool parties, dances at the raves, drinks, neglects the medical clinic.
Sadly, not an implausible tale, and older viewers can predict how Kostis will fare.
Full frontal nudity throughout.

The old guy at the club is a common, annoying presence.
In my clubbin’ days, I saw 40ish guys, shirts deeply unbuttoned, exposing a thick patch of gray or silver chest hair.
When I was older, I worked with similar aged souls (male and female) who continued to chase and flirt with twenty year olds. We mocked them, but they always saw themselves in the looking glass, forever young.

Price Check - 2012 - 5/10

Parker Posey slams into the office, new manager for a half assed marketing team of second rate grocery chain.
A neurotic mess, she is, nevertheless, in charge!
She baits, berates, bullies, boinks, fires, and drags the team into a dust-storm.
By turns funny, cringing, sleep inducing.
Should have been a biting satire, but is too soft centered at its core.
If you ever toiled an awful job, or suffered under a supervisor with less maturity than a 2 year old throwing a tantrum, chances are you will relate.

Dual Alibi - 1947 - 6/10

Twin brothers, trapeze acrobats, draw the eye of a pair of low level grifters.
The brothers, money saving types, have a long range plan. Grifters think short term.
Steady going, tension building as the con is sown and watered.
Circus world is sketched matter-of-fact, as if we are hurrying though.
That works well. Herbert Lom gives terrific, nuanced performance as the twins.
His personalities differ subtly, whereas other actors would exaggerate differences.

Clara Bow: Hollywood’s Lost Screen Goddess - 2012 - 6/10

Unnecessary, redundant documentary on one of the Silent Era’s greatest actors.
Clara’s life is presented in more or less chronological order, though accompanying clips do bounce around.
For example, while commenting on her mid-Paramount career, work from her 30’s period might be shown.
Not a real sin, and probably not noticeable by any except Clara enthusiasts.
Talking heads include Joel Stenn (Bow’s biographer) and Leonard Maltin.
Also neighbors from her final years, as well as her daughter-in-law.
Here’s the thing. Stenn and Maltin were also part of 1999‘s Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl, a better documentary. Her son, Rex Bell Jr, was among the interviewees, rather than her daughter-in-law.
Still, if this is all you can locate, it should be a good introduction.
Her movies, by the way, are hit n miss. You watch them strictly to see Bow’s expressive face.

Gambit - 2012 - 6/10

Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman in fluffy caper film.
Script by Coen brothers, remake of '66 version (Caine, MacLaine).
Firth plays lowly “art adviser” for tycoon Rickman.
He devises a swindle and enlists over-the-top Texas cowgal Diaz.
Plans backfire continuously, which was part of the fun.
Humor ranges from wordplay to situation cascade to Benny Hill farce.
In the room where I watched, most laughed throughout.
Lightweight fare, nevertheless.

Host - 2020 - 6/10

Pandemic lockdown offers few options for get-togethers.
Hey! Why don’t we perform an online séance? A zoom séance.
Six friends arrange this with a conduit, a medium, and they try to contact a spirit.
What could go wrong?
I watched this with individuals who have “dabbled.”
“This is so wrong! The guide MUST be in the same room in case anything goes amiss!”
“Omigod, she’s breaking the circle to answer the doorbell!”
Starts slowly, then steamrolls into your face.
Be careful of who, or what, you invite into your home.

Anna Lee - 1995 - 5/10

Rubbish.
Short lived, silly mini series, perhaps most noticeable for its cancellation cause.
The stories were based on Liza Cody’s popular novels, who so hated the series quit writing them!
Anna is hired by an elite detective agency and she works a variety of, well - five, cases.
Thought a mid-90’s series, the look is very 80’s, and the mysteries are altogether lightweight.
The actress playing Lee never finds her character, as she seems to play her differently from one episode to another.
The actors playing agency personnel shift about, as do the agency’s fortunes.
Not quite a “love to hate” show, but limp and better for types who will watch anything.

Take This Waltz - 2012 - 7/10

Meandering film about happily married woman who is attracted to another man.
She does not have a job, he is a rickshaw driver.
Gradually she yields to temptation. No real great shakes in the narrative.
This is a movie for buffs, more for the look of the film.
Film was set in Canada, in a fairyland, perpetual summer.
Colors in this, Technicolor by the way, were gorgeous.
Flowers, buildings, clothes. Terrific design.
Most of the photography seemed to have been done during “golden hours,” which is hard to pull off.
I liked the film for technical reasons.
Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman play against type and excel in supporting roles.

Paris Can Wait - 2016 - 6/10

Fantasy time here, or prime date flick for more seasoned females.
Wife, married to workaholic husband, opts to drive to Paris with his colleague rather than fly.
The colleague is obsessed with fine food, choice restaurants, exquisite hotels, and appreciating life.
The journey, initially half a day, stretches into three days.
Along the way, the couple converse, disclose secrets, study choices.
Weather is ideal, scenery is gorgeous, and the pair have lots of money to spend.

False Faces - 1919 - 6/10

After he crawls through No-Man’s Land, over barbed wire, and into the trenches, international jewel thief, now espionage agent, Lone Wolf, brings intelligence to High Command.
From there on, more spy vs spy activity as hero Henry Walthall squares off against villain Lon Chaney.
Decent production values (typical for Thomas Ince films). WWI battlegrounds, sea crossing.
Melodramatic story creaks at times, and the print I saw desperately needed restoration.
Walthall nicely underplays romantic leanings, and for Chaney fans, he commands when he is on.

Zero Dark Thirty - 2012 - 7/10

Polarizing film that became wrapped in politics, as well as left vs right shouting,
Because of the hoopla, I postponed watching for years.
Also, reviews ranged from wildly ecstatic to major disappointment.
ZD30 is long, and the beginning rather disjointed and sporadic … by design.
The story unfolds following chatter to slim leads to botched meetings.
Leading to a tense, and lengthy, finale.
Well worth your time if the subject compels you: the search for and liquidation of Bin Ladin.
For others, the concept of political assassination will brook no entry.

Who Killed Cock Robin? - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Mu ji Zhe // 目擊者

Neo-Noir from Taiwan works slowly, but is hard to disengage from.
High flying journalist, taken down a notch, suffers a car crash.
When he takes the car to be repaired, he is told the vehicle had been in a previous wreck.
The reporter has a flashback to an incident a decade earlier - an accident he had witnessed.
With persistent digging, he begins unearthing one version after another.
An uneasy tale that steps straight into darkness, before jumping into the pit.

Blow Dry - 2001 - 6/10

Arguably the finest film ever crafted on the white knuckle sport of competitive hairstyling.
The small town of Keighley scores a coup, landing the annual, fever frenzied tournament.
Plus, they boast two hair shops on high street. Who could enter!
Problem is, the two owners are not only rivals, but divorced from each other.
Nice comedy manages to be a wicked satire and respectful at the same time.
Rickman’s wry sense of humor carries most of the narrative, though Richardson and Griffiths are wonderful.
Unfortunately, the studio decided to include a pair of young American’s, neither of whom can act, and are more distractions than anything.
Not as good as other Brit comedies of this period, but solid.

Ginger And Rosa - 2012 - 6/10

Story of two teenage girls in early 60’s England.
Almost the same time as An Education, only G&R was specifically 1962.
Pre Swinging London, British Invasion. The look, music (jazz from Cool School), themes, all slightly darker than the flowering future.
Film adverts trumpet the conflicts the friends suffer because of the threat of nuclear annihilation, but that is a side plot. The story is actually a coming of age drama.
Excellent acting all around, and it went pretty quick, especially for a Sally Potter work.

Humphreys, Nigel - Beyond Dead And Other Ghost Stories

This is the sort of collection one would expect to find from Sarob or Tartarus. Tales of hauntings and haunted. No filler in this generous outing, either. These are diverse and top rank.
Hyssington Hall, recently opened for tourists, offers an unhelpful, if not dismissive, attendant. “The Chatelaine Of Hyssington Hall” charts an odd series of events toward a disreputable secret.
Another turista - perhaps visitor - and a warning not to voice thoughtless comments. One never knows who might be listening. And in “Silly Old Fool” someone does listen.
“Cholera” hops a passing train to Shrewsbury. Our rider, Mr. Sayce, receives a chance to meet distant cousins, for good, for ill. One of the most traditional stories in the book, this hung with me a long time. So much so, I wish the author had elaborated more.
Settings and characters in this collection are wide-ranging, a pleasant change from the stereotypes of gloomy rooms and self absorbed males.
A teacher, troubled by a Roman Centurion, tries to fulfill a quest.
Beings of another dimension ponder nonsense theories regarding the existence of “humans.”
An eligible daughter, her heart fixed on piety, enters a convent … in 1535.
A sorely neglected music hall is revived by a college of performing artists. As dust stirs, so do other motes.
Throughout, the editor has inserted Gustave Doré etchings that flavor the proceedings.
And not to forget a lengthy introduction by Jonathan Wood (which I started, then opted to read as an afterword).

Up The Junction - 1968 - 7/10

Posh bird from Chelsea glides across the river to Battersea.
Finds work in a factory, rents a squalid flat, buys second hand furniture.
Ken Loach extends the working class point of view of 60’s England.
The juxtaposition of the affluent beauty amidst the lower orders is a telling contrast.
Despite a two hour length, the story seldom drags, there is simply too much to take in.
Casting is excellent in unglamorous Swinging London tale, plus there is the unfolding mystery as to why she is “slumming.”

Rent A Cat - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Rentaneko // レンタネ

“OK, dry food or canned food? Vote with your paw. Come on, cats, choose.”
Sayoko starts her rent a cat business, partly to meet new people, partly because she has too many … well, she’s not a hoarder. Cats simply are drawn to her.
Maybe because she keeps a piece of fish cake in her pockets.
One of those quiet, quirky films from Japan.
Theme of this is about lonely souls trying to fill the hole in their hearts.
Best appreciated by “cat people,” you know who you are.
Expect a lot of felines.

Saving Banksy - 2017 - 6/10

Story of the homeless rat, though with Banksy referenced, nothing is that simple.
In 2010, Mr Banksy visited San Francisco and left behind a fair number of street art.
Most of which were tagged over or painted over

The rat, painted high over Haight Street, abided, though City Hall demanded removal.
Allow one graffiti artist and numbers will swell like cockroaches on fertility pills.
A Banksy admirer and do-gooder saved the rodent by taking it down (at his own expense) and storing it in his closet for a few years.
While fame sky-rocketed and inane rich collectors and predatory middle men sniffed the collectible cheese.
Street art - street art - remind yourself - only street art. Graffiti.
Nonetheless, the wine n cheese, desperate to appear cultured, babble and soil themselves.
Irritatingly funny - you will shake your head.

American Mary - 2012 - 6/10

Don’t piss off the wrong females. Especially medical students.
Mary gets invited to a party by surgeons, gets drugged. Date raped.
Then she pursues the guilty, showing supreme body modification skills.
Dark, funny, but loses direction to focus on oddballs and freak seekers.
Neither as gory, nor as exploitative as it ought to be.
Chick horror meets carnival sideshow, with no sense of the jugular.
Juicy role for Katharine Isabelle.

Walgericht: Black Forest Crime - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - Ein Schwarzwaldkrimi Waldgericht

Countryside thriller starts well, with a corpse buried head first in an orchard, an inverted scarecrow.
Runes are found, scratched on exteriors, and a cloaked figure is glimpsed silhouetted against the horizon.
Another death, equally queer. This has the makings of good folk horror.
Until rational police come to the fore, dissipating the web of mystery.
Two part series feels like mismatched twins sutured together.
Not bad if procedurals are your thing, though I would have preferred the superstitious route.

Zimmer 13 - 1964 - 6/10
AKA - Room 13

London’s top private eye is hired by a member of Parliament after a shady character from his past comes calling.
At its root, this is a caper film. An old fashioned train robbery.
Being a German Krimi, however, there are dozens of subplots and distractions.
Straight off, a serial killer is murdering fräuleins - excuse me, British lovelies.
Numerous shenanigans occur at the High & Low Club, which is a glorified striptease parlor.
This is where our ace detective takes evening dates, by the way.
Not to worry, one of the exotic dancers is a female cop. How do we know?
Because she wears regulation Scotland Yard underwear. Who knew!

Luck Key - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - Leokki // [B]럭키[/B]

Polished Korean hitman suffers an accident and suffers amnesia.
A young, shiftless indebted actor seizes the opportunity and switches identity papers.
Gradually, he realizes the noose he has put himself into.
The better - funnier - story follows the assassin who thinks he is an actor.
He has the superior work ethic, but he is a clueless actor, nonetheless.
Until he is cast in a crime drama where his ingrained skills rise to the fore.
Viewers do not need to be familiar with K-dramas to laugh at this.
Be warned, since this does spoof K-dramas, there will be romance.
But no tears - rejoice!

Love Sarah - 2020 - 6/10

After Sarah dies, her “almost” business partner, daughter, and estranged mother decide to fulfill her dream and open a bakery.
Yes, a how-to movie.
Expect grief, romance, dramatics, confessions, secrets, money woes, gritty determination.
Will the bakery open, let alone succeed?
Predictable formula, though that does not mean this is a bad watch.
One evening, when you are hungry for feel-good, this might suffice.

Arbitrage - 2012 - 7/10

Another of those heavily nominated Academy films that …
Wait a minute. Arbitrage didn’t get nominated for jack!
Not even Richard Gere, who gave another performance of a lifetime as a wheeler dealer, money hustler navigating a series of business negotiations, moral crises, police investigations, etc …
This is right up there with Margin Call in the financial chicanery films.
Intelligent alternative when you need a break from all those teen slasher and TnA romps.