Vultural

Fairy Tale: A True Story - 1997 - 7/10

In 1917, two little girls manage to take photographs of actual woodland fairies.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are among the believers, while friend Harry Houdini remains skeptical.
As the fame increases, sightseers flood in droves, followed by reporters.
Lushly photographed, with a keen period eye.
For non-Edwardian fans, there was almost a mania of Fairy sightings during that time.
Perhaps society was longing for a simpler, more innocent past, as the Great War crushed along.
Wistful tale and ideal family fare.

Kinpika - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - きんぴか

What do a yakuza enforcer, recently released from prison, a disgraced political aspirant, and a discharged combat soldier have in common?
Give up? Yeah, well, nothing.
Except a retired police commissioner puts the trio together, gives them swank digs, and lets them right wrongs.
Guts, muscles and brains. Age-old premise of the mismatched unit bonding.
Slick, stylish, empty headed.
At five episodes, this is worth a watch, streaming easily through into eyes and out the back of your skull.

Highlander II - 1991 - 5/10

One of the nuttier sequels I have watched.
In fact, after watching, few would have predicted a subsequent TV series, or the enduring popularity.
Connor MacLeod, now a frail elder, saved the Earth (and billions of ingrates) with some solar magnetic shield.
He’s waiting for the Reaper, until, outta nowhere, other Immortals appear and voilà! The quickening!
Oh yeah, that quickening thing. Shoulda put it in the title, except it is beyond stupid.
Quickening means MacLeod’s youth is restored so he can engage in more swordfights.
Sean Connery – why is he in this – plays a Spanish aristocrat.
The narrative is an insane jumble of concepts and lacks cohesion, as well as sense.
As if the headhunting cakewalk ever made sense.
Very bad film, atrocious. Guilty pleasure.

That guy with no name said:

please delte this tread

I looked up delte.
https://www.nationstates.net/nation=delte

This Island Earth - 1955 - 5/10

r

Aliens enlist unknowing Earth scientists to help in their eternal struggle with other aliens.
Talk, talk, talk, amidst spacious sets, and a slow moving giant potato bug.
Saw this as a kid, thought it was lame.
Saw it later in the 70’s, part of a 3D festival. Audience, and me, hopelessly stoned, all laughed.
Now … Why? Why did I watch again? Why do some consider this turkey a classic?
I did think of one thing: In any conflict between two advanced civilizations, DO NOT GET INVOLVED.
Whether on distant Metaluna, or an argument between China and Russia, keep far away.

The Rat Pack - 1998 - 6/10

Retelling of Sinatra and coterie at their final peak, early 60’s, before the British Invasion, before the Boomers began their cultural ascendancy.
This is all very Vegasy, with plenty of behind the scenes shenanigans to pleasure voyeurs.
Tittle tattle, rumors, gossip, stories that have been massaged over the ensuing decades.
Joe Montegna stands out as Dean Martin. (Talk at the time said he would get his own Martin biopic.)
Don Cheadle also memorable as a conflicted Sammy Davis Jr.
I suspect the less you know about this crew, the more you may enjoy.

The Mezzotint - 2021 - 7/10

Annual ghost story is several notches above recent outings.
Eerie, rather creepy, yet faithful adaptation of the M. R. James classic story.
Williams, college art curator cum connoisseur, accepts a peculiar print on approval.
The print, of limited artistic value, shows a manor house at moonlight.
That was initially, until the image started altering.
Colleagues and neighbors are baffled, and it strikes a dissonant chord.
Excellent method of hints, suggestion, the half-glimpsed, to evoke unease.
Leading to worse.

Framed - 1947 - 6/10

Paula spots him as soon as he enters the cafe.
Right height, weight, body size. The perfect double, the future patsy.
Paula, the blonde waitress, contacts her boyfriend, a banker, and they start the setup.

So-so Noir suffers from being underwritten, and half delivered.
Glenn Ford sleepwalks his role. To be fair, his character is nothing more than a once-mining engineer, now penniless drifter.
Barry Sullivan better as the cold and cynical banker.
Best is Janis Carter, who never climbed beyond B-roles.
Her Paula is an angelic faced fatale, her every single decision an opportunistic calculation.

With Beauty And Sorrow - 1965 - 7/10
AKA - Utsukushisa to kanashimi to // 美しさと哀しみと

Ōki had a fling with Otoko. He was married, with a son, she was sixteen.
Pregnancy, she lost the baby, then was institutionized for depression.
Fifteen years on, now a famous writer, he decides to visit.
Otoko is a renowned painter and teacher, with devoted clique of pupils.
One of whom, Keiko, is more than a pupil, but Otoko’s lover.
She also bristles that Ōki was never punished, never suffered, and decides to exact vengeance.

Understated psychological thriller simmers and is a tense study in motives and emotions.
The successful, dismissive male. The quashed soul who leads a quiet life, and her calculating, volcanic mate.
Wintry colors are subdued, matching the outward expressions.
The overt lesbian relationship is striking for 1965.

Jack The Ripper: The Definitive Story - 2011 - 6/10

Another Whitechapel documentary, only this one relies on facts and chronology rather than theories.
This proceeds from the earliest surmised murders to a handful following 1888.
Inspired visuals transform a modern street. Replacing halogen with gaslight, narrowing the streets, restoring the warehouses and tenements and pubs.
Those mix with historians explaining the times, as well as the killings, hour by hour, witnesses and press.
For those who have never been on one of those Ripper Walks, Whitechapel of today is a sterile environment.
Decent doc. I don’t watch many on the Ripper so I have no comparison.

1. What was being an 80s Star Wars fan like?

The great thrill was Empire Strikes Back, exceeding all expectations, and worth the lengthy waits in line. Followed by the disappointment that was Return Of Jedi.

3. Which technological developments excited you? Which didn’t excite you? What did you think was coming soon, but was actually far off?

Compact disc. The sound was wonderful. Or, at least, we all thought it was wonderful. After my first player, I upgraded my speakers.

Zelda and I married in ’78 and bounced around the States throughout the 80’s. Consequently, money was precious and we would be considered poor by today’s standards. There was less stigma, and no peer judging back then for being poor. Everyone our age struggled, it’s the way it was. Early 80’s we bought maybe one record album a month, late 80’s one CD a month. I grew our own reefer. Politically, there was a rising Conservative movement and real consequences if you were perceived as an “outsider”.

Pick and choose, the 80’s was a decent time for music, although MTV would have a corrosive influence. Artists focused more on a video presentation over songcraft. While there were styles (hair metal bands) and specific artists I enjoyed, overall I preferred the 60’s and 70’s era. To be fair, I still prefer the 90’s over the 80’s.

I suspect most of us who recall the 80’s are halfway to the graveyard.

SS-GB - 2017 - 7/10

Imaginative series presupposes the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 was not broken.
The Wehrmacht sweeps through Europe, and the Luftwaffe overwhelms the RAF.
As the German Army occupies Britain, waiting to take control stands the SS.
After the Resistance murders an inconsequential black market dealer, Scotland Yard investigates.

The pacing is steady, a handful of threads coiling around the mystery.
Production detail is an overripe blend of tainted grandeur and full Noir.

For those who gave up on The Man In The High Castle series, this ought to be easier.
Five episodes, a constant narrative thrust, and a few good misdirects.
The Scotland Yard inspector strikes me more as an SD operative, perhaps by design.
While the finale is a trifle open-ended, this should satisfy most.

Ghost In The Shell: The Movie - 2015 - 6/10

Bit misleading title, “the movie” which the unwary might see as the ScarJo vehicle.
This falls after the “Arise” series and leads into the 1995 classic.
Major Kusanagi, Batou, most the of the squad embroiled with terror plots, assassinations, cyber-virus.
Always with this series, a fair amount of talking and philosophizing about the collective datastream.
Visuals are great, if now perhaps a little familiar.
The plot bounds along, often shifting scenes and gears abruptly.
Enjoyable, though choppy.
Not the best entry for newcomers. Best to start with the '95 original.

Cousin Bette - 1998 - 6/10

After her wealthy and connected sister dies, Bette hopes her in-laws will assist her.
Bette is a seamstress for the ever-disreputable theatre world, and money is precious.
As Bette befriends a talented, yet starving, sculptor, her greedy in-laws ignore her.
More betrayals, until Bette decides misery loves company.
Very black comedy here, of calculated retribution.
Bette, a methodical and callous antagonist, selects useful weapons to crush perceived enemies.
Feel-good seekers, move along. Those who prefer revenge cold, enjoy a bitter dish.

It Happened On Fifth Avenue - 1947 - 6/10

Above, Aloysius T. McKeever and loyal companion, resident of the O’Connor mansion on Fifth Avenue.
He is, what one might term, chronically unemployed, and a squatter.
The homeowner’s habits are known to him; a day after O’Connor heads South, McKeever enters.
This season, add a homeless ex-GI. Followed by a pair of buddies. With wives and children.
Plus, the rich owner’s daughter, who declines to appraise the others who she is.
Old fashioned romantic comedy is schmaltzy and overlong, borrowing a trope from My Man Godfrey.
The plight of unemployed servicemen also rings a chord, which fueled many a Noir.
While wishful sorts declare this a forgotten Christmas gem, it really isn’t.

Olga’s House Of Shame - 1964 - 5/10

Johnny Gordon brings in fresh meat for Olga’s organization.
Narcotics, prostitution, and now, jewel smuggling.
Hard the believe the empress of criminality is holed up in the backwoods in an abandoned mine or tipple.
The girls, hookers, chiselers, hustlers, are petty rebels, and Olga is a harsh mistress.
Brace for beatings, cheap tortures, and girls stripped to their garters and girdle
Grade D exploitation gets classy with classical scores (Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov).
Extensive voiceover narration holds this together, and it feels shots were cobbled together with duct tape.
Bad cinema fans, this is pretty slow. Like you care.

Subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/olgas-house-of-shame/english/2965511

Hole - 1998 - 6/10
AKA - Dong // 洞

The infection has turned into an epidemic.
Whole neighborhoods are quarantined, then residents are ordered to leave.
Meanwhile, it rains, and it rains, and it rains.
The humidity overpowers, leaks develop, trickling from one floor to the next.
In this case, opening an ever widening hole.
Where upstairs and downstairs tenants begin looking at each other, wondering,
Much of the film is the banal existence in an emptying apartment building.

Highlights are musical interludes performed by Grace Chung.
Daydreams? Fantasies? Nothing is explained.

Galaxy Quest - 1999 - 7/10

“Never retreat, never surrender.”
Loving homage to interstellar TV, especially Star Trek.
Series canceled, careers stalled, ex-cast members earn a living on the convention circuit.
Until they are space-napped by the last surviving Thermians, driven to extinction by the dread Sarris.
What ensues is a gentle parody, and sheer comedy.
A fellow reviewer had attended an advance pre-screening and reported a lost edit.
Tony Shaloub’s Tech Sergeant Chen clearly huffing a small pipe, which informs his stoner behavior throughout.

(Note: This is prime for an edit, with deleted scenes reinserted.)

Colossus: The Forbin Project - 1970 - 6/10

Another early warning about Artificial Intelligence granted too much clout.
Like Skynet, Colossus is a defense project, and again, smarter than its handlers.
Unlike HAL 9000, controlling a vessel, Colossus has the complete defense apparatus.
Of the States and the Soviets. It also has implacable logic, deeming war illogical.
Move – countermove between humanity and circuitry form the main conflict.
Dated (this feels like TV), though still relevant, especially if you have ever argued with your computer.

Wit - 2001 - 8/10

Professor Bearing, dying from terminal cancer, agrees to experimental treatment.
She is upbeat and pragmatic, all the while knowing her days dwindle.
Based on a play, it feels that way, though Emma Thompson pulls us into the humanity.
And this is a powerful journey of Life, end of life, contesting with the Reaper.
Thompson is grand, and Christopher Lloyd handles the steely, emotionless face of medicine.
What is never mentioned is the payment, especially after Prof. Bearing’s insurance taps out.
In the States, hospital sharks would seize her property to pay bills, then sell her eyes.

The Player - 1992 - 7/10

Late era Altman, whom I had given up on, provides an excellent thriller / mystery.
And scathingly funny, to boot!
Hotshot young producer (pattered after a wannabee Robert Evans?), blows off one too many writers.
Yeah, yeah, writers, they are all God’s gift. After all, their mothers told them so.
Thing is, who is the malcontent scribe? There are so many with a bitter grudge!
For films buffs, especially classic Hollywood, this is packed with jokes, gossip, scandals.
More thoughtful souls, the current era of Hollywood that Altman satirizes acts as a metaphor for America writ large.
One to view numerous times. Indispensable for film hounds.

Company - 2002 - 7/10

One of the few Bollywood films I can unreservedly recommend.
Consider this: Instead of a dozen silly, romantic musical numbers, there is only one. Period.
A gangster film, low level Chandu works for boss Malik in the Mumbai underworld.
Turf battles, revenge killings, political intrigue, obsessive police, this has it all.
As the men and their crew liquidate rivals, their gang is simply called Company.
Three hour film sweeps from India to Kenya to Hong Kong.
For Hong Kong fanboys, longing for 1990’s actioners, this is a freight train roaring down the pass.

God Of Gamblers - 1989 - 6/10
Dǔshén // 賭神

Master gambler Ko (Chow Yun-Fat) is seemingly invincible, whatever the game or stakes.
While playing to help a friend clear debts, he suffers a head injury.
Ko now has the insufferable personality of a two year old.
Will he recover? And in time for a big showdown?
Yes, yes, any fool can predict this.
Exciting first third, strong finish, but my God, that “childish” midsection is a misery.

Gods And Monsters - 1998 - 7/10

“What-if” biographic study of James Whale, long retired from Hollywood, in the twilight of his life.
Whale, openly gay in 1930’s Hollywood, was tolerated because he delivered a string of box office hits.
The hits dried up, and by the 50’s he is ostracized and is in declining health.
A shameless flirt, he is watched over by a protective Mother Hubbard housekeeper.
The relationship between the two, and the new gardener, a hunky ex-marine, forms the core of the film.
Packed with references to Old Hollywood, and periods where Whale goes into a mental fugue.
Ian McKellen deserved the Oscar. (1998 was a strong year for men, so the Academy, as they so often do, gave the award to the weakest nominee. Typical.)
Terrific small film, yet owing to the gay subject matter, fared poorly in the States.

2010: The Year We Make Contact - 1984 - 6/10

Like 2001, the 2010 date recedes further in the mirror each day.
Meanwhile, the chances of human space exploration grows slimmer.
Pointless “sequel” sends US-Soviet mission to Jupiter to find out what happened with USS Discovery in 2001.
Global tensions back on Earth, but nauts astro and cosmo are beyond that, correct?
While both stories were based on Arthur C Clarke works, 2010 misses Kubrick.
Despite better special effects (and I did like that Soviet craft), this lacks the soaring vision and imagination of the original.
What this does offer are tidy guides for individuals (know thyself) who want everything explained.
I remember half snoozing when I originally saw this.
No change.