The Grobian - 2024 - 6/10
Can’t say they weren’t warned.
“It’s just a story,” the two hikers dismiss the local.
The woods are thick, one of the pair sickens, they must spend the night.
“Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.”
Dark, gory Horror short.
The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Phil Spector - 2008 - 6/10
Strange “documentary” that seems part interview, part paean to the troubled producer.
Weaving in and out, the 2007 homicide trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson.
Spector, hands visibly shaking (Parkinson’s, Bells?) discusses his life, production glories, individuals.
For whatever reasons, he has a particular axe to grind against Tony Bennett.
Courtroom proceedings are all but silent, although several of the high tier individuals seem to mug and giggle.
Video clips of groundbreaking songs also fuel the narrative.
Underneath, an author writes hyperbolic, rapturous praise about these pop hits.
There is no real biographical meat to this.
My Dinner With Andre - 1981 - 7/10
The inspiration for those action figures (Waiting For Guffman).
Theatre director Andre meets friend Wally for dinner, and we eavesdrop.
Andre has had affairs, foreign travels, broad worldviews.
Wally is more grounded, more of a listener, but not a milquetoast.
When pushed, he can shove right back.
In some ways, this is theatre, in other ways, this is listening to intellectual intelligence.
A quiet film, one could rewatch every few years and tease new insights.
Saltburn - 2023 - 7/10
Oliver begins Oxford on an academic scholarship.
High IQ, disciplined, organized, yet socially repellent.
Not the right class, not really our kind, don’t you know?
Until he is befriended by the charismatic, wildly popular Felix.
Whereupon Oliver begins to worm his way into the social clique.
Straightaway, I wonder if this is a Tom Ripley clone.
It is not, but it is a story of aspiration, envy, dependence, and Olympian indifference.
Barry Keoghan (born to play Elon Musk) is too old as a first year Oxford student, and it detracts.
A taut mystery, with diabolical twists, although not as deep as it desires to be.
The Deadly Knell - 1914 - 6/10
AKA - Dødsklokken
During the dinner party, military brass learn they are at war!
Next scene, the trenches!
A young officer is dispatched, carrying an important dossier to the front.
Except he is betrayed by a higher rank, imprisoned for his trouble.
Fortunately, pageboy cut Hubert (think Hardy Boys) is there to bail him out over and over.
I am guessing the conflict may be the Franco-Prussian War.
Denmark film ends abruptly, missing a reel or two.
Polite Society - 2023 - 6/10
Ria self-trains to be a stuntwomen – although she is smallish and still in school.
Sister Lena is a failed artist, suddenly wooed by a rich, handsome bachelor.
Ria, jealous, confused, lonely, suspicious, senses something amiss and decides to stop the wedding.
Even her friends say, “He’s good looking, wealthy and a doctor. What’s the problem?”
Nevertheless, right or wrong, Ria IS the fury.
Brit / Hindi comedy pushes the yucks, and the story is puddle deep.
Has its moments, though, and seems agreeable for most audiences.
Blue Nude - 1977 - 6/10
AKA - Nuda Prohibida
Sleazy, smutty tale of Italian “actor” trying to make it in New York.
He is optimistic, good-natured, hopeful.
“If Pacino, de Niro, even Stallone can make it, so can I!”
Rocco pounds the pavement for roles, hustles for money.
Dog-walker, tour guide, gigolo, male stripper (clients are not models, but foul mouthed grannies).
Eventually, he drifts into porn.
As painful as things go for him, colleagues spiral into the violent, sadistic videos.
Cheap looking, unpleasant, with fabulous street scenes of pre-sanitized New York.
Hollywood Boulevard - 1936 - 6/10
The Silent era has-been still has his pride, though casting directors shun him.
Until a magazine publisher offers to print his memoirs for a princely sum.
His reminisces are discreet, gentlemanly, whereupon the editor rewrites them into spicy tell-alls.
Well, that’s what readers want! Scuz, trash, filth. Who cares about reputations?
The film is packed with cameos of faded Silent stars, even a rising Gary Cooper.
Would that the whole film were thus.
Instead, there is a secondary story of an estranged daughter and her unbelievably obnoxious boyfriend.
Fast-forward scenes with eager beaver Bob Cummings and this will be more enjoyable.
Murder In Verdun Gorge - 2023 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres dans les Gorges du Verdon
1958, the young couple are chased to their death by an armed group.
Fast forward 60 years, and murders begin.
Person or persons unknown are targeting the now aged vigilantes.
Local gendarme paired with a rising hotshot (behavior analyst) assemble the clues.
Character relationships are poorly drawn in this, leading to confusion and muddy logic.
Diverting photography, yet the overall mystery is ho-hum.
The Man Behind The Masquerade - 2009 - 6/10
Oh, what a phenomenon this was!
The book that became a runaway bestseller, inspiring legions of treasure hunters.
Americans speculated, Japanese considered the philosophy, while Brits dug.
Kit Williams, genial, publicity-shy artist, is profiled in this documentary.
From childhood memories, to unwanted fame, to the 300+ works he has done following “Masquerade”.
His later output is highly sensual and erotic, using locals from his Gloucester area as models.
I had always heard one story of the “discovery” of the golden hare. This corrected my misconception.
Comment: I had asked permission from the artist to include one of his later works as a visual.
He declined.
Daughters Of Darkness - 1975 - 4/10
Do not confuse this with the 1971 Horror classic from Belgium, youngling.
Our young man rides into San Francisco via BART.
An aspiring writer (on the supernatural) he does not have much money.
Luckily, he scores cheap digs in the home of sexy witches.
Yes, Satan worshipers who are undressed and busy most of the film.
Despite all the romping, he decides he cannot concentrate and announces he will move out.
Until they put a spell on him. Mondo tattoos and bubbling closeups.
Grindhouse nonsense has frenzied, ritualistic orgy finale, and a cop-out ending.
Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight - 2024 - 5/10
How do you know when you’ve done it? If you’ve succeeded?
At what? Well, Life, friend.
One-man show that enlists the audience to field questions, take sides, choose.
Life itself remains something of a banal journey, punctuated, depending on your luck, with memorable moments.
Our narrator seems to have more regrets rather than cherished memories.
Wrong choices, indecision, second-guessing.
While thought out and scripted, this has the feel of free form improvisation and audience participation.
During the show, he comments how the audience paid $60 a ticket.
To quote the immortal poet T, “I pity the fool”.
The Chaperone - 2018 - 6/10
“Inspired by true events” apropos for a film based on a fiction novel.
1922, Norma offers to chaperone 15 year old Louise Brooks to New York for Denishawn acting tryouts.
Both females are fleeing troubles in Wichita, both find something akin to rebirth.
The film is a character study of Norma Carlisle, so Brooks curiosity seekers be forewarned.
Norma’s story (based on Alice Mills) is pure fabrication, as she encounters 20’s taboos.
As for Louise, dismiss the intro, she was never a major star in the Silent era.
Those were Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, Garbo, Theda.
Louise’s icon status came decades later, although it is now rivals Marilyn and Bettie Page.
For Brooksie, for readers, the Barry Paris biography.
Or 1979 New Yorker interview = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1979/06/11/louise-brooks-tells-all
Or the Hefner funded documentary, Looking For Lulu.
One California Day - 2007 - 7/10
Tour through the California surf, from Baja to the North Coast.
Different waves, participants, alternate attitudes.
In Baja, for example, riders prefer the isolation, aloneness, the chance to embrace Nature.
Further north, say Malibu, Orange County or Santa Barbara, surfers deal with the crush.
Some scenes witnessed riders shoving other surfers off boards.
Coarseness may contribute, as well as the fact that California is beyond overcrowded.
Music is low-key, and there are nice detours to traditional board makers.
(Professionals now use Thai factories to produce their endorsed boards.)
Doc contrasts how the beach was, with how it is today.
Starship Troopers - 1997 - 6/10
Near-future Earth finds itself at War with planet Klendathu.
A few whisper we were the provocateurs, infringing on Klendathu territory.
Hardly cause for them to annihilate a major Earth city!
Patriotism surges, high schoolers enlist, and, whether they remember their training or not, few soldiers survive.
Intense battle sequences coupled with black satire aid this flawed SciFi.
I saw this theatrically and I remember how, at work, we jeered the soap opera romances, clichéd boot camp, and the deadly accuracy of bug farts against the sneering fleet.
Aside from Rasczak and Carl, most characters are ignorant fools, including the top brass.
Still, over the years I’ve rewatched this … what … a dozen times? More? The pezhead and his guilty pleasure.
I speed through the Rico-Ibanez-Barcalow twaddle, linger over Dizzy, and ask myself why, oh why, oh why, has no one in the fan-edit world ever given this gem an adult overhaul.
Starship Troopers 2: Hero Federation - 2004 - 5/10
Pale followup to the 1997 flawed original is even more maligned, yet not without interest.
Here, a small Federation detachment is stranded at an abandoned outpost.
Completely surrounded by Klendathu warriors.
Dwindling supplies, armaments, power, food, no hope of reinforcements.
This lacks the budget, scope and characters of the original.
The atmosphere is claustrophobic, and one is left with a gloomy outlook regarding the long outcome of humanity.
In many ways, this is more kindred to Aliens.
Mysterious Intruder - 1946 - 6/10
One of the last of the Whistler series is also one of the best.
A mild-mannered, kind-hearted shopkeeper hires a private detective to search for a missing child.
The girl had disappeared sever years earlier, but she has now come into a huge inheritance.
That triggers the PI’s larcenous eye, as he is a rather shadowy spirit.
Soon, there are brooding thugs and impersonators.
The story moves hard, packing in details. Best, it mirrors the Whistler OTR, loaded with dubious characters.
Jeremy Arnold provides an incisive commentary touching on pre-schlock director William Castle, ex-football alum Dix and MacLane, Charles Lane (character actor with 300+ roles!), not to mention the ill-starred actresses, as well as the mechanics of the B-studio output.
EMI: The Inside Story - 2016 - 6/10
Glib overview that sticks with a few artists, generally one per era.
Oh … Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, Sex Pistols, Duran Duran, Kate Bush, Pet Shop Boys, Radiohead.
This also remains on the British side, so don’t expect any US names.
Uncomfortable financial malfeasance unmentioned.
Entertaining, yet the feel of a hearty heigh-ho, pat on the back pervades.
The label itself was pretty much defunct by 2012.
The Maze - 1983 - 6/10
Following the war, Arthur and Catherine return to her family home.
The large Victorian estate supposedly is haunted, but it is not.
Catherine is the one haunted by her childhood memories, as well as an incident that occurred during childbirth.
Much of the drama centers around Daisy who persists in playing in the back maze.
Where she defiantly argues she is seeing someone.
Simmering mystery yields broth.
Jacobi, Carl - Revelations In Black
Jacobi’s first Arkham House collection is a doozy. One can see how he was held in high regard by fellow writers in the “weird” sphere.
The title story is a dreamlike echo of “Carmilla”, as our narrator is drawn to a rare set of autobiographical journals, and from there toward the dark eyed pearl.
Mr Grenning somehow acquires a cursed walking stick in “The Cane”. It exerts a sinister influence over him, while the history of the previous owner quietly unfolds.
“Canal” is a change of pace, set on the somewhat colonized Mars, where a desperate thief escapes through one of the forbidden waterways, where others have entered, and disappeared.
One collects books, to the other weapons, both obsessives, yet in different fields, so they are not rivals. The common link in “The Spectral Pistol” is that their remote village is best by a ravening wolf
‘The Tombs From Beyond” dives deep into HPL territory. A Polynesian temple has been transported, block by block, to the explorer’s country lake, in hopes of a museum or tourist draw. The wealthy adventurer failed to consider that something unspeakable might accompany the tomb.
Royalton Manor has been crumbling for decades. Repairs were beyond the last of the line, so he lives with memories and rising dust. And a tenant, Classilda, charity case, a crone of foul aspect. A wall that has stood for centuries needs restoration, despite warnings to leave well enough alone. In “The Face In The Wind” the wall is, indeed, reworked and forces are unleashed. A classic supernatural story, steeped in old myths.
Three cheers to Valencourt Press for reissuing this long OP book.
Kafka - 2024 - 7/10
Inspired construct / retelling of the writer’s personal life, work life, writing, outlook.
Kafka’s domineering family, his circle of friends, suffering women.
Then there are the ever-present men in dark suits or trench coats.
Major works are shown as daydreams or nightmares.
Visual style enhances the overall surreal outlook.
Tone at once paranoid, pointless, despairing, and painfully funny.
Kafka is among a select few who realize life is meaningless, with participants the butt of a cosmic joke.
48 Hrs. - 1982 - 6/10
Buddy cop flick finds unorthodox detective paired with temp parolee.
Forty-eight hours to track down and cuff or kill a crime group.
Nick Nolte has the gravitas with the badge, but Eddie Murphy in his film debut is a ball of fire.
Loose, wise-cracking, with terrific lines. He more than held his own with a very macho cast.
Film, and dialogue, is not remotely “correct” or “woke”.
Nolte and Murphy are terrific, and launched a series of buddy films.
A Great Day In Harlem - 1994 - 7/10
In 1957, Esquire magazine ran a Jazz series: the inexperienced writer wanted a photo of the leading musicians.
A veteran would have shrugged, “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Nevertheless, through persistence, naiveté, and sheer good luck, an image was taken in dawn hours.
Engrossing documentary told from the creators, and from surviving artists.
Talking about the day, fellow musicians, influences, styles.
This makes an essential primer and introduction to classic Jazz, the 50’s.
An acclaimed Jazz documentary came out in 2001, although it gave short shrift to this era
Numerous “Great Day In –-” followed. This is the one.
Crisis In Six Scenes - 2016 - 6/10
Late 1960’s, a free-spirited radical invades the home of her quasi-aunt and husband, straitlaced middle-class types.
Lenny (a good Miley Cyrus in a one note role) is on the run following a bombing and shootouts.
She is opposed to all isms save for the utopian Communism.
Woody Allen’s foray into a series has its moments and gags, but often treads water.
Aside from fashion models, most 60’s agitators were more scruffy. Lenny is Hollywood.
Best episodes are the first and last (homage to A Night At The Opera).
Historical references seem like cliches, plus a lot of characters for six half hour episodes.
Not as bad as the Allen or Cyrus hate legions decry.
Subspecies - 1991 - 5/10
Three college girls (two Americans, one local) investigate folk culture in Romania.
Where in Romania? Transylvania.
And yes, vampires do exist, friend. In this case, two rivals, brothers.
The “good vampire” is magazine handsome and has his eye on one of the girls.
The “evil vampire”, Radu, seems a descendant of Murnau’s Nosferatu, and has his eye on world domination.
Straight off, I root for the baddie.
Location filming in Romania is the best thing here. Script likely penned by a fanboy reading issues of Forrest Ackerman’s “Famous Monsters”.
3-4 sequels expand this Full Moon vampire saga.