Vultural

Mort d’un Pourri - 1977 - 7/10
AKA - Death Of A Corrupt Man

A politician / bureaucrat / fixer is murdered.
Police inspectors realize his important diary has gone missing.
The book with dirt on legislators, tycoons, aristocrats.
Police, enforcers and envoys quickly swarm around the likely suspects.
Safest thing would be to turn the book in. The dangerous route is more lucrative.
Nasty French mystery thriller is a sour study of greedy, bribery, murder, and dishonesty.
Alain Delon excellent as friend in over his head. Klaus Kinski memorable as jaded middleman.

Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - 2019 - 8/10

Seven part documentary on the decades long sectarian violence in northern Ireland.
Participants comment on bombings and assassinations, matter of fact, ofttimes proud.
Families left bereaved or shattered recall with far more emotion.
Hearing just how high up the chain of command responsibility lies, can be breathtaking.
Essential viewing, especially as our globe continues to swirl into darker uncertainty.

Coda: Need a bit more? Check out Peter Taylor: My Journey Through the Troubles (2019).
Different locations profiled, as well as personal, perhaps softer, takes on key players.

Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate - 2011 - 5/10
AKA - 龙门飞甲

Remake of Tsui Hark’s 1992 classic, Dragon Gate Inn (which itself was a remake).
Powerful eunuchs are obstructed by the rebels.
Swords and arrows converge at Dragon Gate Inn, as do Mongols and a monster sandstorm.
CGI effects are like salt, best used sparingly.
In this modern update, the effects are over the top, distracting, poorly rendered.
What is used sparingly, is Jet Li. Scant kung fu, much wire work.
Seek out the '92 version with Tony Leung, Brigitte Lin & Maggie Cheung (both radiant), and an ass kicking Donnie Yen.

Roads - 2019 - 6/10

On the road, on the run. Ain’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Two older boys, Gyllen and William, both 17, travel in an RV.
Gyllen has stolen the vehicle from his stepfather, William has escaped from prison.
Both know how to operate this large machine – somewhat.
Gyllen wants to reconnect with his real father in France, William seeks his missing brother, also in France.
Like most “road trips” the journey takes longer than normal with odd detours.
Those, and the credit card for fuel and food is kept active far longer than reasonable.
Other angles are worked in awkwardly. A few points are made without being too preachy.

Down Three Dark Streets - 1954 - 6/10

Broderick Crawford as FBI agent who takes over three cases belonging to another agent.
This is the noble, patriotic FBI version and rather hard to watch without today’s’ lens of cynicism.
One case is of extortion, another a gunman on the loose, the third is a pigeon taking the fall.
Not really a Noir, but a crime procedural, with several Los Angeles locations.
(I was especially smitten with the bygone LA subway.)
Martha Hyer memorable as sassy, uncooperative moll.

Daughter Of Dracula - 1972 - 5/10
AKA - La Fille de Dracula

Miss Karlstein returns to the manor home and her mother’s deathbed.
There she learns of her grandfather, great grandfather still reposing in the basement crypt.
Count Dracula, oops, Count Karlstein!
Soon, female characters are pursued and slain by a masked, fedora wearing assassin.
(Think Blood And Black Lace.)
A detective hunts for the vampire (née killer), the modern count plays piano, and his aide philosophizes.
The aide is Jess Franco himself who shows rather good acting potential.
From what I’ve heard, this started out as a Giallo, but Franco decided that genre was kaput and hastily reshot vampiric sequences and rebranded the film.
No matter. The story remains a mess, the pace languid.

Exit Through The Gift Shop - 2010 - 7/10

Documentary on the underground graffiti scene with Banksy, Space Invader, Zevs.
By turns interesting and provocative when cameras trail artists in the bleak hours.
Gradually, the focus shifts to Theirry Guetta (AKA - Mr Brainwash) a hanger-on with zero artistic talent.
Not that having shit for inspiration ever stopped sock puppet heads.
In no time flat, Brainwash puts on his own exhibitions, deluding gallery owners, curators, and the wine n cheese crowd.
Black satire, acidly funny, mean spirited, and mocking pretensions of all sorts.
Directed by Banksy, with pitiless detail.

Everything - The Real Thing Story - 2020 - 6/10

Entertaining, informative documentary of a group I never heard of.
This is the other BIG Liverpool foursome, soul quartet The Real Thing, who had a string of hits from the mid-70’s on.
A lot of ground is covered. Liverpool neighborhoods, the British Pop industry, appearances, mistakes.
The songs are great and should have caught on in the States, though popularity is often Chance.
Fine doc job showing who the men were, why their tunes touched so many, and why they are still around.

Q - 2012 - 3/10 or 8/10 take your pick.
AKA - Desire

French soft core nonsense.
Film opened in the ladies’ showers with a parade of female nudity.
Enter Cecile, chief conflict instigator, and magnet for males hopping the three peg hokey pokey.
Desired by many, Cecile generally said oui.
Multiple pairings, bangings and bouncings. Accompanied by a lot of crying.
Tears and sobs, emotional basket cases all.
If you are telling friends you are a connoisseur of pretentious erotic twaddle, Q is a prime example.
Otherwise, stick with Lesbian Spank Inferno.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark - 2019 - 6/10

Horror film unreels like an anthology series.
Halloween night, three young teens break into the locked haunted house.
Others follow, and their presence / activities awaken a dormant curse.
One by one, disappearances play out.
Aimed at younger viewers, who have not viewed 147 Horror flicks, there is much for experienced souls to enjoy.
Good music score, acting is good, period details are fine (though dialogue is too modern).
The house is atmospheric, as are the classic arenas where, one by one, protagonists get cornered.
Most of the kids look too old to be 15 year olds - and - the accepted cutoff for Trick r Treat is 12.

Save Me - 2019 - 6/10

Nelly’s daughter disappears, supposedly on a visit to see him.
At first considered another runaway, cameras quickly reveal she was kidnapped.
For the police, Nelly is suspect number one.
Thing is, he has neither seen nor heard from her in a decade.
After the divorce, he gave up parental rights and never bothered to be a presence.
Yet once she disappears, oh my goodness, he transforms into Father Of The Year!
In between kicking down doors, browbeating suspects and friends, he tries to holepole most of the females he comes into contact with. Including his ex, mad with worry and remarried.
His character, who is the whole show, and his “concern” borders on ludicrous.
Pity about the ending, which many truly hated.

Social Suicide - 2015 - 5/10

Loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet for the age of tweets and selfies.
Star crossed youths post on web blogs, defy parents, chase romantic love.
Fate, in the form of a beguiler, ever so carefully clears a path.
At best, may hold the interest of the indulgent.
At worst, predictable and contains alarming cameos.

Poison Ivy - 1953 - 6/10
AKA - La Môme Vert de Gris

Casablanca police hear a dying gang member ramble about $20 million in gold, US transport, and an imminent date.
Baffled, they alert the US consulate, who contacts the FBI, who ship off crack agent, Lemmy Caution.
First of the Lemmy Caution series starring craggy faced (mirror breaking) Eddie Constantine.
This bears all the trappings of Noir: shadows, endless cigarettes, smooth gangsters, seedy nightclubs, hard dames.
Only, this is too lite for Noir. Breezy almost playful, and the fisticuffs are ridiculous.
Moreover, Lemmy always seems three steps ahead of the muscle and the brains.
Enjoyable from start to finish, but pure marshmallow.
Compensations include nightclub dancer that US censors would never tolerate.

First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (Star Wars sequels) - TriggeredPuppy

This will be a future go-to for many, I suspect, packing the arcs and climaxes into one headlong cut.
And yes, this beast rumbles and moves at a vicious pace.

Filesize = 4.1 GB. Video = 1920 X 800p AVC. Audio = 317 kbps, 2 Channels, AAC. No subs.

The quality of the elements, as expected with a Star Wars title, is first rate.
The editing is equally fine. Purists may miss the opening crawl, but TriggeredPuppy explained that in his OT thread, and Mr Herzog’s voice has a purring ease to it.
With so much trimmed on this 3fer, the narrative is fairly jumpy.
Lando Calrission, for example, is just suddenly in the action.
True, everyone knows these films by heart, but you do expect the narrative to be coherent.
Granted, most viewers will shrug at plot leaps, and buckle up for the ride.
And this version is a fantastic ride. Watch it while it is still available.

First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story

The Gill-man Silent Jaws Edition (The Creature) - Scribbling Man

Whoa! Edit of an edit!

Overview - As kids, my brother and I used to buy 8mm reels of movies. They never had sound, so we put on a movie soundtrack and hoped for the best.
Seeing this reminded me of that time, except Scribe’s selected score is superior.

Filesize - 582 MB !!
Video - 712 X 528p AVC. First off, this is a very sharp print. Thank you for not “damaging” this to make it appear old. The editing is excellent, sticking to the essentials of the story, never losing the thread, keeping the tempo cruising along.
Audio - 320 kbps AAC. 2 Channel stereo. No subs, but Inter-titles, yes! The Inter-titles stayed onscreen long enough to digest, and the font was large and quite readable. Good job! I hate to say this, I found the sound range too dynamic. Quiet to the point of “eh, what?” followed by blaring. I think this would have been well served with compression. Barring that, normalization.

Narrative - Distilled to a compact thirty-one minutes, what really impresses is how smooth, how coherent, the edit is. No plotholes, no logic flaws. Perfect episode for an anthology.

Enjoyment - I enjoyed this edit very much. The film itself, not so much. I always viewed the humans as interlopers. The creature is minding his own business, when these air breathers invade his territory, in all likelihood pee in his lagoon, shoot him, cage him, plan to display him like the Fiji mermaid. Jerks.

Thank you for the B movies you seek out, Scribe.

The Gill Man (The Creature) - Scribbling Man

Effective trim of an already shortish horror film. The editor’s aim was to carve out the slack bits, and thereby boost the pacing. Nicely done.

Video - 1280 X 720p. Audio - 224 Kbps 2-Channel, AAC. No subs. .

Narrative - Tell the truth, I did not notice any change in the narrative. And yes, quit a bit was excised. The story flows fine, I did not notice missing passages. This is a light edit and, because of the brevity, easy to digest. Boy meets girl - boy chases girl - conflict.

Enjoyment - Of all the “classic” Universal monsters, the Creature has always been one of my least favorites. Possibly because there is next to no history or backstory for the guy. He’s existed for thousands of years in his isolated bachelor pad? Is the Creature even a he? If the Creature is actually a “she” then the sequence where it kidnaps Kay has a whole new dimension! Otherwise, the Creature comes across as this lovesick sap. Where were the village maidens? Countless manfish mutant fishpop offspring?

Yeah, kicking a rock, sorry. Nevertheless, compared with the original feature, Scribbling Man’s edit is much preferred. Enjoy with your favorite fish sticks!

Darkest City (Dark City) - Jorge

Dark City was one of the touchstones of the early DVD era.
The film was embraced by the geeks, and derided by them. Likewise, the pacing and the acting.
For all that, Dark City was a showroom demo disc (along with Blade, Matrix, and Blade Runner), and dominated the charts in Video Business Retailer when it came out.
The original was always an excellent example of SciFi Noir.
Jorge’s version is slightly darker, done with trims.
Jorge’s version is outstanding on a technical level.
Video edits are clean and help propel the pace. I did not find the narrative any more mysterious, however.
Audio modifications are noticeable. Sometimes the new scoring works, other times not.
A bit too much for my liking, though chalk that down to personal taste.
Otherwise, highly recommended.

Satan’s Slave - 1976 - 6/10

Chiller opens with a Satanic offering that finishes poorly.
Another sad sacrifice, then again she’s blonde and in this genre, their days are numbered.
Next scene, another blonde, drinking and flirting … well, she shoulda dyed her hair.
Finally, we get to Catherine. In bed with her boyfriend (no virgin), yet she’s a brunette!
Already you’re thinking, third times the charm.
From this point on, the film strolls along, not exactly plodding, just in no hurry.
Stale goods from beginning to end, though the production is excellent.
The plot reminds me of an episode of Hammer House Of Horror.
A tortoise episode with slim payoff.
Bonus audio commentary from director and composer is lackluster.

Cool Air - 1999 - 5/10

Struggling writer rents room in boarding house.
When he suffers a heart attack, he is treated by the doctor who resides above him.
They strike up a friendship. The writer discusses his literary challenges, the doctor his past.
Lovecraft’s oft adapted story is filmed here as a one set drama.
Low budget is compensated with two fine leads, helpful black and white photography, and a serviceable ambient sound design.
Pace is sluggish, though, the narrative predictable, and the secondary players overact.

Maudie - 2016 - 6/10

Arthritic and otherwise disabled female moves out of her aunt’s home to work as housekeeper.
The man who hires her, a fish seller, is slow on the uptick, as well.
She paints, however, and her work has an undeniable primitive charm.
Slow, very slow, yarn of the creative outsider, based on Nova Scotia artist, Maud Lewis.
Bleak cinematography captures the loneliness, and acting is excellent, if gloomy.

Vanity Street - 1932 - 6/10

A starving girl hurls a brick through a drugstore window, then waits to be arrested.
“They’ll feed me in jail, right? Being in prison is better than starving, yes?”
She gets a break, followed by rather cruel advice, finally a job in a revue.
Amoral Pre-Code film breaks several taboos, flirts with a few others in barely an hour.
Helen Chandler displays her usual brittle, nervous energy.

The Undying Monster - 1942 - 6/10

Handsome Gothic potboiler set in the craggy cliffed manor house.
An ancient family curse stalks the final descendants, brother and sister.
The night air is rent with the howls of — what?
Reminiscent of “The Hound Of The Baskervilles,” this is, nonetheless, its own beast.
A solid B-film mystery, that never reveals until the end, and at 63 minutes, does not outstay its welcome.

Fig Leaves - 1926 - 6/10

Adam and Eve enjoy the paradise of Eden, complete with zoo animals and dinosaurs.
Newsboys even delivers stone tablets of daily events.
Eve complains, however, she doesn’t have a thing to wear (fig leaves seem identical).
Adam ignores her, so she vents to another neighbor, the serpent.
Flash forward a million years! Adam Smith is a plumber, and wife Eve complains about her wardrobe.
Silly film benefits from Olive Borden, who was an exotic beauty.

In real life, she and costar George O’Brien had a torrid affair at this point, which Fox capitalized on.
Borden was also a notorious clothes horse, and this film concluded with a fashion show featuring “nothing-to-wear” Eve.
That event was originally in Technicolor, now lost, but the still below gives an idea.

Rien Ne Va Plus - 1997 - 6/10
AKA - The Swindle

Con-artists and sharpers, Betty and Victor, fleece convention rubes and day trippers.
Small time targets. Low risk. Modest payouts.
Then Betty develops a high risk scam on her own, eventually telling Victor part of the details.
From here on, alliances flicker and trust dissolves, leaving viewers to navigate multiple shell games.
Lightweight material, especially for a Chabrol film, although the tone darkens as locations warm.

The Living And The Dead - 2016 - 6/10

Circa 1890. Educated couple relocate to his mother’s rural farmstead after she dies.
Viewers - even inattentive viewers - will quickly realize the pair has moved to Spooky Lane England.
Possessions, ghostly hauntings, curses, the Ouija board!, and deaths, lots of graves.
Our couple, being educated and of scientific inclinations, disregard superstitious villagers.
Well photographed, nicely cast (save for the husband), the stories feel like “death of the week.”
This viewer’s sympathy ebbed more each week as the characters became myopic and dim brained, putting friends, neighbors, and family into clear risk.

What made this so disappointing is because the time, 1890, is the cusp of the Modern Age. The couple are familiar with Freud, photography, and scientific journals.
The pair are outsiders, and juxtaposed against the villagers, whose activities and attitudes have changed little since the 1600s.
Many possibilities were available, the writers seemingly took the easier route.
Bummer.