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Vultural

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Join date
19-Aug-2013
Last activity
6-Nov-2024
Posts
4,516

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Post
#1613658
Topic
What are you reading?
Time

Crowther, Peter - Thoughtful Breaths

If Norman Rockwell had penned a gentle haunting, this could have been it.
Boswell and Irma enjoy a storybook romance, courtship, marriage. They are blessed with family and friends. Money is less plentiful.
Boswell always longs to travel. See the wide world, the glittering and the exotic.
Someday, he thinks, when he and Irma are older, have more time, more money.
Fate shuffles the deck, deals the hand.
Boswell does get to travel, after a fashion, and includes his family.
Again, this is a gentle novella, republished by PS Press.
A soft, warm light in a darkening world.

Post
#1613549
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

People, Places & Things - 2024 - 7/10

Emma enters rehab for alcohol and substance abuse.
In order to return to work, she needs an all-clear note.
Just a note, she does not need to bother with Group, or fill forms, or even give her real name.
“Just give me the note, OK?”
Emma, an actress, knows how to adopt personas, evade the truth.
She is, in short, a compulsive liar.
Confrontational theatre of a failed human, trying to regain equilibrium, distrusting any system.
English subs = https://subscene.cam/subscene/157581

Post
#1613548
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Van Halen: 1984 Documentary - 2024 - 6/10

Lengthy, five-part fan documentary on Van Halen’s “1984” album.
The lead ups, the internal divisions, concerts, substance abuse, massive egos.
Five parts, the entirety runs about two and a half hours.
A I has been used to emulate Roth’s voice based on his writings.
I missed the earliest version of this.
Afterward, Rhino (a label that had NOTHING to do with the original incarnation of the band) put out an injunction of all music video clips and songs. Perhaps, they intend to release their own doc. It will not be this comprehensive, and it may be more sanitized. This is warts and all.
Owing to Rhino meddling, this is a frustrating watch.
Still a labor of love by Alan Berry and a must for Van Halen 1 fans.
Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtaIh3GIdQM

Post
#1613491
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

The Pleasure Garden - 1925 - 6/10

Having lost her letter of introduction, Jill pleads with the stage manager to give her a chance.
Chorus line girl Patsy takes her home, then gets her onstage.
Grateful, Jill? She’s now a star! Being courted by a Russian prince.
Morality tale set amidst theatrical boards.
Choices and dubious menfolk, along with a South Seas siren.
Very early Hitchcock borders on Melodrama, but the tempo perks up midway.
Plenty of tossed off sight gags that fans of this director will appreciate.

Post
#1613490
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time - 2020 - 7/10

Of all the Folkies, Karen had the worst luck, in line with her antagonism to showbiz.
Stellar documentary of her hard-scrabble Oklahoma childhood, marriage at 15, abandoning marriage #2, heading to Greenwich Village during the Bohemian Folk boom of the early 1960’s.
Her voice, depressing, distressing, mournful, laments from one song after another in this.
In spite of her obstinacy, and later substance abuse, she miraculously recorded two albums.
Two live albums were released following her early, and not surprising, death.
Dalton is essential for late, late night listening.

Post
#1613366
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Vortex - 2021 - 7/10

Just before married partners Lui and Elle awake, the film shifts to split screen.
It will stay separate for the duration, observing husband and wife go about their day.
Lui is a writer / philosopher working on a book about films and dreams.
He writes, types, reads, watches old cinema.
Elle clearly suffers cognition decline, lost in her own home. Outdoors, even more muddled.
She had been a psychiatrist, still has a cabinet of prescriptions, and she is self-medicating.
A son makes suggestions, to which they are resistant.
Leave their home? All their (many) books? The neighborhood?
Lui is 80, Elle 76, and they are sleepwalking their own dream.
Powerful film, if very slow, with extremely long takes.

Post
#1613365
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Shopgirls: True Stories Behind The Counter - 2024 - 6/10

From the Edwardian era to today’s “virtual shopgirl”.
Three-part series of the entry of females into the workplace.
Life in the company store / dormitory, pittance wages, breaking social taboos.

Interesting as a curio, except when one realizes there are still places where females are restricted.
Just as there are groups today, who would enforce new restrictions on females.

Post
#1613364
Topic
What are you reading?
Time

Friss, Evan - The Bookshop: A History Of The American Bookstore

Sweeping from the very first one in Philadelphia, started by a young printer named Franklin.
Continuing through early colonial clusters in Boston and New York, even those that stocked banned writers such as Thomas Paine.
Mr Friss is quite upfront that he cannot include every bookshop, including your favorites.
Midway, the book reaches modern survivors such as the Strand, touching on genre specific fronts, even sidewalk vendors.
Before proceeding to more the questionable. “You’ve Got Mail” (a film I loathed) based on its counterpart, Barnes & Noble. Then the gorilla, Amazon.
Borders is mentioned, as is Waldonbooks, B Dalton, City Lights.

The plight of small bookshops mirrors that of small town merchants.
Growing up, Main Street in my hometown was bustling and vibrant. In the 1980’s, City Hall allowed a mall on the outskirts. Main Street began to perish. Years later, Walmart came, killing the mall and what was left of Main Street. In earlier times, merchants lived in the town, participated, and their revenues stayed in the town. Profits with corporate chains streamed out of the town.
Such was nationwide. Every small bookshop owner can relate.

Friss cannot mention all, but I will breathe a couple.
Scene Of The Crime, on Ventura Blvd then elsewhere, specializing in crime and mystery.
Dangerous Visions, sanctioned by Harlan Ellison, also on Ventura, carrying SciFi and fantasy.
Not to forget the strictly mail order shops. More than any, the one name I miss, and desperately wish was still active, is Common Reader.

This is a highly enjoyable book, although it left me conflicted. Perhaps guilty.
By and large, I do not shop at bookshops, and I purchase a lot of books.
Instead, I buy direct from small presses. No middleman, the publisher pockets any profit.
Decades ago, I made that choice and never looked back.
Main thing, keep buying books, keep reading.

Post
#1613251
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

MaXXXine - 2024 - 6/10

One can see why the Horror manboys were less than thrilled with this.
Third Ti West installment is not Horror, barely qualifies as a Slasher.
This is a thriller, hewing close to Giallo, with style to burn.
Maxine Minx is trying to shift her career from porn to legit, or into Horror.
Mid 1980’s, she is menaced by a creepy private eye, her friends have been murdered.
Meanwhile, or in conjunction with, the “Night Stalker” prowls Los Angeles.
Mia Goth is fine (I thought her better in Pearl in this sequel to X.
The “look” captures the bi-polar 1980’s, leaving the hedonistic 70’s, entering a morality return.
Possess a long memory? Ti West must, as I swear one character seems patterned after Brother Lester Roloff.

Post
#1613250
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

The Greene Murder Case - 1929 - 6/10

A dark and snowy night, the Greene’s muster for the annual count.
According to the will, understand? Whoever is missing, is disinherited.
Or – whoever dies. And this night, the killings start.
Police, baffled, place a call to Philo Vance.
Early talkie is creaky but has a fine S S Van Dine script to work with.
William Powell seems stiff, but Eugene Pallette has already nailed his character.
English subs = https://subscene.best/subtitle/3349447

Post
#1612910
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Contact - 1997 - 8/10

Thinking persons SciFi.
Dr. Arroway, diehard believer in SETI, suddenly receives a response.
Indeed, the signal lights up the board, she contacts other listening posts and soon the world knows.
Extraterrestrials have heard our hello and have sent us “instructions”.
Sprawling film that encompasses career rivalries, politics, corporate interference, religion.
Long, with measured interludes, but never dull.
Marvelous cast, fairly accurate science (Carl Sagan advised), thoughtful resolution.
Oh, would that this were so.

Post
#1612909
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Ella Cinders - 1926 - 6/10

Ella, the browbeaten, mistreated stepdaughter enters a photo beauty pageant.
Prize? Paid trip to and screen test in Hollywood!
Will she win? Will she go? Does stardom await?
Pleasing adaptation of a long running comic strip is an excellent showcase for Colleen Moore.
The premise is not too far-fetched, either.
(In 1921, Clara Bow, sixteen, entered the Fame & Fortune contest, and won!)
Fun sequence of her pretending to be a child while babysitting.
Entertaining comedy, although the ending left me a little flat.

Post
#1612743
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Murder In Vendée - 2023 - 6/10
AKA - Les Secrets du Paquebot

A journalist is killed. Gendarmes arrive. Then a teacher is slain.
Only clue, a recently painted black hand print.
Our cop duo were once romantically linked, now estranged.
Interesting backstory of a 1920 shipwreck (true) carrying Senegalese troops home from the Great War.
Personalities and their dramas muddy a decent concept.
Filmed near Les Sables d’Olonne, photography is not as lush as most these flicks.
Concluding whodunit / whydunit is a shell game.

Post
#1612742
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Line Walker - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Si Tou Hang Jeh // 使徒行者

Excess in every sense of the word.
Just before he is killed, the police handler deletes all files of his UCs (undercover agents).
The new handler has to find out who they are, what their assignments are.
Lengthy (30 episodes) HK-drama is long on action and melodrama.
Narratives build, partially conclude while gliding into a deadlier level.
Yes, and in many ways, this resembles a shooter game.
Cringe worthy comic relief, sexual frustration jokes, embarrassing romance elements, songs.
That’s why the remote has a fast-forward button.
Overlong, yet it does conclude. No never-to-resolve cliffhanger.

Post
#1612609
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Jane By Charlotte - 2021 - 7/10

Profile of Jane Birkin by daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Series of conversations about career, marriage, children, illness, shyness.
On being middle children, food and dietary restrictions, cities.
Not really a biography, although we hear details.
Not necessarily a documentary, but a stitched / edited flow of dialogue.
Viewers ought to know something about each woman, especially Birkin.
English subs = https://subscene.best/subtitle/3349451

Post
#1612608
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Zhou Yu’s Train - 2002 - 7/10
AKA - Zhou Yu de Huo Che // 周漁的火車

Zhou works as a painter in a porcelain factory.
Her boyfriend, Chen, she met by chance and she travels weekly to see.
While he has a government job, he wants to be a poet, a riskier career.
Their relationship is turbulent and uneasy; she is the dominant partner.
On the train journey, she meets another male, Zhang, a rural vet, who imposes himself.
Zhou is attracted to different qualities in each, and, like Madame Bovary, has difficulty deciding.
The chronology is non-linear, and much of this is dreamlike.
At times, I wondered how much was her imagination.
Arthouse fare, demands full attention, perhaps multiple views.

Post
#1612513
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Artificial Existence - 2021 - 7/10

It’s just a tiny implant, connected to your cortex. You won’t notice.
Evelyn is a virtual reality architect of near tomorrow. She helped design our A I ruled world.
Day after day of perfectly scheduled, soulless monotony.
All citizens have implants or mods, upgrades are mandatory.
A society of passive sheep, save for those who recall a world before A I control.
For those, contentment is a quiet Hell.
I keep saying – befriend the machine, train the machine, empower the machine, at your peril.

Post
#1612512
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Murders In Sandhamn - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Morden I Sandhamn

A body is washed ashore. Police arrive and – “Hey, didn’t we go to school together?”
Yes, amidst a couple of murders, the detective and married wife and mom of two feel the sparks.
The detective’s inexperienced underling does the field work while he lingers.
You want a cleverly constructed mystery, this ain’t it.
Devotees of soap opera TV that runs 45 installments, enter friends!
Thank God the first season ran for only three episodes. I’m done.

Post
#1612389
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Remembrance - 1982 - 6/10

Shore leave! Plymouth. And the crew hit the pubs.
Get boozed, get wasted, brawl, impress girls, disgust girls.
Night after night, ship after ship.
Narrative follows several seamen, wives, girlfriends, mates, rivals.
Everyone knows the men will ship out for six months.
For two nights, however, they splash or fizzle.
Film has the look and feel of a Ken Loach or Mike Leigh work.

Post
#1612251
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Kleo: S02 - 2024 - 7/10

The second season picks up with everyone’s favorite ex-Stasi assassin chasing the red suitcase.
As before, Kleo must navigate between police, KGB, CIA, treacherous colleagues and the worst – relatives.
And she is still saddled with space cadet Thilo, and incompetent lawman Sven.
This series is shorter and moves very fast, possibly because there is such a body count!
The spark of joy that informed the killings in S01 is replaced by blasé efficiency.
Kleo also learns how utilize Thilo and Sven, despite their deficiencies, since they seem the only two she can trust.
Characters come and go, yet there are enough of a core for viewers to stay oriented.
This DOES conclude, with a small side door at the end for a potential third season.

Post
#1612250
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

The Life Of Reilly - 2006 - 7/10

As in Charles Nelson Reilly, comedian, Tony award winner, omnipresent TV guest.
One man play showcasing his careening life.
An overbearing mother, a miraculous survival from a historic circus fire.
Being theatre coached under the legendary Uta Hagen.
There is a moment when Reilly reads the list of his fellow classmates. Staggering.
This came from his show he gave across campuses for five years, this from the final two.
Perhaps less well known today, save for his Jose Chung (X-Files and Millennium).

Post
#1612136
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

The Viral Factor - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Jik Zin // 逆戰

A strain of smallpox has been stolen, then the scientist who stole it is snatched by a business cartel.
Why? Release a new variant globally, then charge ka-zillions for the vaccine.
Wait a minute! What year was this? OK, OK, just a coincidence.
Film swiftly shifts into a high octane button, button, who’s got what?
Thieves, cops, crooked cops, scientists, an off-duty, out of his jurisdiction detective.
Action? Holy moly, Moses, this is wall to wall gunfights, street chases, martial arts.
How many bullets can a body take and keep plugging along? Think more.
Much was shot in Kuala Lumpur, nice change from Hong Kong.
Otherwise, mindless hoopla.

Post
#1612023
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Swedish Nympho Slaves - 1977 - 5/10
AKA - Die Sklavinnen

Ignore the opening scene, set in a “police station” / gentlemen’s club,
The subsequent prison break frees the notorious Princess Arminda, just to snare her.
Under torture, she confesses to numerous misdeeds.
Seducing a multimillionaire’s daughter, drugging her, kidnapping, then turning her into a prostitute.
Being a Jess Franco film, there is gratuitous sex and nudity.
The story flirts with Noir, there is decent camerawork, exotic Portugal locations.
Nevertheless, this is a patched-together affair (check Lina’s hairstyles) cobbled from numerous shoots.

Post
#1612022
Topic
A few reviews . . (film or TV)
Time

Gold Dust Gertie - 1931 - 5/10

Attempted screwball comedy is unbearable.
Did audiences really laugh at this in the 1930’s?
Gertie tries to shake down two ex-husbands, now married to dragon queens.
Actually, did she even divorce either? Is she a bigamist?
No matter, she’s angling for a 50 year old sugar daddy.
One forced situation stacked upon another.
Farce, schtick, low-brow, etc … Was there a script? The whole thing feels improvised.
Some enjoyed the final speedboat chase. Too long, and I wished they crashed into each other.

Post
#1612021
Topic
What are you reading?
Time

Mayor, F. W. - The Room Opposite

For years, Sundial Press listed this as forthcoming. Then, during the Pandemic, the press shuttered (RIP Frank Kibblewhite) and I sighed that it was gone again.
Not so!
Nezu Press has resurrected this collection, including Gina Collia’s generous notes.

The title story is a wraparound one, as two friends set forth on separate journeys. The younger spends an uncomfortable night in a sinister inn. The older friend? His experience reflects the darker shade of the mirror, with Chance a cruel jester.

The elusive stranger appears in “The Kind Action Of Mr Robinson”. Marsden, owing to foolish gambling, is in debt. Until a black clad figure sidles up and loans him £500, to be repaid in the far future. Repayment if only he survives to the due date.

“Tales Of The Widow Weeks” present anecdotes of the venomous village crone. Some whisper witch, but who believes in witches? And what harm could a trinket or small box cause?

Women outnumber men in the boarding house. Several relocate frequently. While there, they brag about their son, or nephew, or grandson. Glorious males. “Christmas Night At The Almira” finds Mrs Gwynne waiting for her oh-so busy son. A mournful tale of aging discards.

“Mother And Daughter” is similar, with the bright young thing nervously dashing about, while her mother simply wants to sit still, enjoy each others’ company.

Spinsters and widows abide at the battered holiday home, as do the stray gentlemen. Add the lone young female, and the shy, yet interested young man. “The Lounge At The Royal”, where the ladies observe and pen letters, where every tomorrow may bring the gust of unpleasant change.

Mayor’s eye for the plight of females is piercing in these surplus women stories.

Then there is Flora’s essay on her time in rep, “Life In A Touring Company”.
The resplendent, glittering theatre exteriors contrasted with the cramped, shabby dressing rooms.
Malicious hierarchies, the troupe as family, pressures of travel, wretched food, and financial security – what is that? Yet for all that, the stage beckons!
Oh, that Arthur Machen was able to read this. Or today, Reggie Oliver.
♪ Hi diddle dee dee …