Vultural

Kurokôchi - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - クロコーチ

Sleazy, dishonest, crooked, scheming, even murderous.
Barely comes close to describing the used car ethics of Detective Kurokôchi.

He extorts money from politicians, covers-up killings by businessmen, blackmails anyone he can slip the wedge under.
For all that, he is almost a breath of fresh air in the entrenched law enforcement hierarchy.
And, as the 10 episode series unfolds, he digs deeper and deeper into a long buried mystery.
The 300 Million Yen Bank Robbery of 1968 (actual event).
Forces behind the vanished monies, one soon realizes, are powerful and secure.
Nevertheless, they never take the shifty Kurokôchi for granted.
He is partnered with a by-the-book individual, whom he shamelessly exploits.
Very much a game of lies, knives and smiles. Irresistible!

Checkpoint - 2022 - 6/10

“Go. Seek penance. Reveal your worth.”
The man wakes in the wilderness, an extraordinarily dangerous environment.
Where he dies. Again and again and again.
Each time, learning and advancing towards an uncertain goal.
Survival short, a brutal riff on Groundhog Day, drives hard and does not outstay its welcome.
Lost me with the ending, though.

Bukowski, Charles - Hot Water Music

Chinaski attends the reading by a rival poet, untalented yet wildly popular. One masterpiece proceeds:

“East of the Suez of my heart
begins a buzzing, buzzing, buzzing
sombre still, still sombre
and suddenly Summer comes home
straight on through like a
Quarterback sneak on the one yard line
of my heart!”

Thirty plus stories from 1983. The majority are funny, though often fading at the end like a drunk passing out.
Chances encounters in the cheap bar. Arguments over breakfast. Fistfights in the alley
Winning on the horses, losing everything. Wading from one stinking cesspool of a job to another.
How hard does your own life blow, loser?

Invasion Of The Bee Girls - 1973 - 6/10

“Zzzzz” aired in 1964 on The Outer Limits.
The beehive designs a young queen to resemble a human for interspecies mating.

Great plan? Well, her target is a stuffy professor, loyal to his wife.
In the end, our young queen shrugs and gives up, unaware she could have scored with any horny teenager, rowdy fratboy, jock, the mailman, postman, you name it.
Because the young queen is an exotic hottie.
Fast forward a decade, and I imagine producers revamped this concept for the trashy drive-in thriller, Invasion Of The Bee Girls.
These worker bees are far more successful with male / female mating.
For those less knowledgeable about bees, male drones, during a successful romp have a highly sensitive appendage broken off, and they die.
After a tumble in this flick, menfolk likewise perish, though we are not told how.
As more men succumb to the throes of ecstasy, a government agent teams up with a curvy bee specialist.
Alert viewers might well speculate that once her eyeglasses come off, so will a whole lot more.
That fails to reckon with the Bee Girls strategy of transforming more human females into, you got it, sexually voracious mantraps.

Resistance is futile, future honeypot.
Fun, sexy nonsense with flesh and adult situations.
Newer DVD miss some nudity but look better than previous DVD that had the extra bits.

Emma Bovary - 2021 - 6/10

Gustav Flaubert goes on trial for corruption of public morals with his indecent “Madame Bovary”.
Concurrent with the trial, the narrative of the book plays out.
For courtroom drama fans, the jurors are all male.
Emma begins as an innocent, but quickly develops a taste for better things.
Along with men, younger than her adoring, if overworked husband.
Her affairs seem closer to those of “Thérèse Raquin” in heedless carnality.
Glossy, simplified to be sure, but should provide a quick digest for lazy students.

I remember reviewing this awhile ago.
The original series had such saturated colors.
Those who caught TVArchive’s Wild Wild West will know what I’m talking about.

Ian Fleming: Where Bond Began - 2008 - 7/10

Engaging documentary of the writer, focusing on his newspaper years (where he learned his craft) and WWII service in Naval Intelligence (where he saw firsthand the world of espionage).
Enjoyable for Bond buffs, though this is not about 007, but the creator.
In a delicious irony, Fleming’s voiceover is done by Jonathan Pryce (AKA: Elliot Carver).
Joanna Lumley, a sometimes cheeky presenter, was a Bond girl, and was in The New Avengers.
Much of this will be interesting to newcomers, and the history is more accurate than 2014‘s Fleming.

It Came From Outer Space - 1953 - 5/10

I last saw this in the 70’s, in 3D (yes, the theater provided glasses) and remember being unimpressed.
Aliens land in the remote Arizona desert and start to mind control the locals.
Fortunately there is a nearby astronomer, with fiancée, who recognizes strange goings on.
A few equate this with Invasion Of The Body Snatchers except this predates that film by a few years.
Theremin music is fairly eerie. The 3D effects? I was not wearing glasses (and I wasn’t stoned) so they don’t come across as well. I keep remembering that I jumped in my seat years ago.
Not a complete miss for me, might be better if you are in the mood.

Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer - 1986 - 6/10

Kinda sorta based on Henry Lee Lucas, murderer who falsely admitted killing 600.
Here, Henry is a drifter and opportunist.
Egged on by companion Otis, they proceed on a deadly spree.
There are a series of brutal killings, yet splatter hounds may be disappointed.
The tone is deadbeat and grim throughout, as if killing is a boring habit, a job that pays poorly.
Michael Rooker is fine as the emotionally numb Henry, while Otis and his sister are more complicated.
I appreciated the acting and the bleak tone.
This is one ugly film, though.

Black Sun - 2022 - 6/10

One crew member was revived early. Five years too early.
He has lost his sanity, thanks to the ship A I who has read way too much “Paradise Lost” by Milton.
SciFi short has excellent visuals of the ship, space, rudimentary ones of humans.
The “plot” is less than a sketch.
Consider this an art installation at a SciFi convention.
Watch for a bit, then walk on.
Subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/checkpoint/english/2948917

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex - 1972 - 6/10

Uneven assortment of comic sketches based on the bestseller by Reuben.
Skits range from uproarious to tasteless, depending I imagine on the viewer.
Social norms have also dated a few. Transvestites and sexual perversions come to mind.
Still, when it works, this rolls along.
The mad professor (John Carradine), deranged cub scouts, monster mammary.
Exhibitionism, styled after Italian cinema.
The inner workings of the male body, when the cards seem to be lucky.
Those who long for a zanier, sillier Woody, this has classic moments.

The Bonnie Parker Story - 1958 - 6/10

Wild retelling of Bonnie & Guy (yes, Guy, not Clyde) and their spree in the panhandle region during the 30’s.
Bonnie is the cigar chomping, tommy gun crazy, kickass boss of small time gang.

They knock over hardware stores, gas stations, diners until she bullies her crew into robbing banks.
Film is peppered with explosions, gun battles, car chases, and arguments.
Menfolk don’t stand a chance.
Music is 30’s Swing combo, hillbilly, and 50’s jukehouse.
Dorothy Provine landed this ultimate hard blonde role and rode it for all it was worth.
Even during lulls, she is electric.

New Jack City - 1991 - 6/10

Nino builds a crack team, literally.
Dealing in those illegal goodies that make your heart go boom.
The team of crooks, Cash Money Brothers, lay the groundwork with care, then royally harvest.
Their blind spots seem obvious, clumsily built in, and ought to have been better thought out.
One of those gangster sagas where you root for the villains.
Wesley Snipes began a heady run with this, and he ought to have won awards or been nominated.

Russian Ark - 2002 - 7/10
AKA - Russkiy Kovcheg

Visual tour de force, although the narrative may leave one in bewilderment.
We become the roused consciousness of the roused visitor, wandering through the Hermitage.
From room to room, following beckoning laughter, into parties, into the swirl of history.
Grand balls and visions of rulers, flashes of history sweep past.
All film students ought to view this one.
Ninety minutes packed in a single tracking shot.
On repeated views, one may catch mistakes by extras, but the feast for the eyes overwhelms.

The Goes Wrong Show: The Nativity - 2020 - 8/10

Early on, I’m going, “Oh, I hope they can keep this up.”
And do they ever! A half hour of nonstop jokes, gags, farce.
The stage is deliberately cheap, akin to the worst of amateur theatre.
Nevertheless, this is howlingly funny.
Alas, wouldst there had been a second play the following Yule.

A Taste Of Honey - 1961 - 6/10

High school senior Jo and mother, barfly Helen spit and feud ceaselessly.
Forever behind in rent, they flee from one flat to the next.
Once there, Helen drags home boyfriend de jour for a tumble.
Not exactly rivals, they are simply an ill fit and tired of each other.
Jo eventually moves out, finds work, rents what appears to be warehouse space.
She is actually doing pretty well, though complications are swelling.
Film is very much of a time and place, post WWII London.
Viewers who can relate to the era and situations may appreciate more and score higher.

Lake Mungo - 2008 - 7/10

Family outing at the lake goes badly wrong when Alice vanishes.
Rescue teams arrive, and after a few days her drowned body is recovered.
Not the end of the tragedy, however, as a presence soon haunts the house.
Cameras are placed to capture images, and a psychic is consulted.
Events grow progressively weirder.
Part supernatural, part mystery, part suspense.
Viewers, along with friends and family members, discover a darker, and darker, side to Alice.
As a stunned friend said, “Alice kept secrets. I knew one Alice, her mum knew another, and there was another one that none of us knew.”
Terribly overlooked gem.

Prey - 2022 - 6/10

1749, alien Predator arrives in North America’s upper Great Plains and begins hunting.
From snakes to wolves to bears to humans. French trappers and Comanche warriors.
This has a nice slow burn build to it, and human hunters put up fair resistance.
When they seem close to winning, the Predator resorts to “cheating” as one swore at it.
Closing scene underwhelms, and the director should have reshot.
Look, I understand qualms about our hero. Size, gender. Deal with it, or don’t watch.
Remember, you are already accepting the notion of an interstellar alien traipsing the woods.
I watched the Comanche language version.

Criminal Lovers - 1999 - 6/10
AKA - Les Amants Criminels

Another French film of young love.
Pair of high school teens commit a grisly murder, then go on the run.
Fleeing into the forest, they break into an isolated cabin.
The woodsman returns, overpowers both, and drags them into a deranged version of Hansel and Gretel.
Starvation and force feeding commences, since the man prefers girls rail thin and boys plump and soft.
Flashbacks of school days alternate with soapy water, bondage and escalating violations.
Frightening film by François Ozon never flinches from the brutality the teens dispense, yet includes scenes that remind viewers that the pair are, in many ways, barely out of childhood.
Absolutely not for the squeamish.

Cinderella: A Comic Relief Pantomime - 2020 - 5/10

Someday, this will be a time capsule on how Covid made for odd decisions.
Such as, the panto show must go on. Pandemic? What pandemic?
A bevy of actors, comedians, influencers, act a Cinderella story from their homes.
They react to each other, and forced merriment abounds.
Recall the party you attended which someone recorded. Drunk, stoned silliness, curdled by dawn.
If you MUST have Cinderella for Christmas, track down BBC’s “Charles Paris: Cinderella Killer” with Bill Nighy.

Cover Girl Models - 1975 - 5/10

Three girls and a photographer head off to exotic Hong Kong and regions thereabouts.
Once there, they are unwittingly involved with smugglers and espionage.
Not that they know, they are mostly hapless eye candy.
They bring their own wardrobes (please, designers would supply fashions they wanted showcased) that appear to have been grabbed out of a fabric shop.
On the sly, the photographer keeps pushing for nude spreads for girlie mags.
The girls refuse, they are fashion models after all, but there is nudity throughout.
Poodle fur, pointless drive-in goop.

Comfort And Joy - 1984 - 5/10

Scottish radio announcer gets entangled in ice cream truck feud.
Mister Bunny (no more Mister Softy!) trucks vandalize McCool trucks and vice versa.
In other hands, this might have been a holiday turf war.
Instead, this is weird for the sake of weirdness.
No character development - indeed, even the main character, one Dickie Bird, is barely a sketch.
A “wintery" film, the story is fairly depressing and meanders a lifeless path.
Of course that may well be the point, that the Life path is a dreary myth.
I screened this theatrically when it first came out. I had no memory of it because it is not memorable.
Quirky, not comedy, and not as charming as I had recalled.

Jodorowsky’s Dune - 2013 - 7/10

Documentary about the failed attempt to film Herbert’s “Dune” by outsider filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky, in 1975 - years before the 1984 Lynch version.
The pitch, which was a telephone sized book, was fully story-boarded by French artist Mœbius.
Other members of the creative team included the little known Giger, Chris Foss and Dan O’Bannon.
The tentative cast included David Carradine, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali, Gloria Swanson.
Missing anyone? Oh yeah, music by Magma and Pink Floyd.
Numerous interviewees discuss conception, building the foundation, then the collapse of the project.
Jodorowsky, while not bitter, does blame corporate Hollywood and lack of artistic vision.
Problem is, the 70’s was one of the most experimental and free-wheeling decades in film.
What they balked at was a 15 hour film by an unknown director whose three films were well beyond the outer fringe of the arthouse sphere.
Arguments about how great Jodorowsky’s Dune would have been fail to fully factor the director’s past track record.
Simply put, this would not have been Star Wars.
The creative team went on to acclaim with Alien and beyond.
One might assume I did not like this.
No. This is constantly interesting.
I simply found too many of the presumptions flawed.

Flaming Brothers - 1987 - 6/10
AKA - Gong woo lung foo dau // 江湖龍虎鬥

The boys bond on the streets, steal food from the Catholic church, run errands for coins, fight for each other.
Fast forward, two men now. They have a small casino, run gambling, have a brothel. No drugs.
Profits attract a powerful boss, who demands respect. How much respect? 80% of profits.
Brace for impact.
There are three or four major gun battles in this, along with a fun chase in tuk-tuks through Thailand.
Along with insipid comic relief, romances that kill the pace.
Alan Tang and Chow Yun-Fat make a great team! Even resemble brothers.

The Cutting Edge - 1992 - 6/10

Winter perennial, although less here after my bride tired of figure-skating melodramatics.
Ex hockey enforcer, following injury, grudgingly agrees to pair with female prima donna.
Bickering, training, training, training, romantic entanglements.
Solid romantic comedy, and the premise, while Hollywood, is not as far-fetched as one might assume.
There was Rocky and Calla, the truck driver and the waitress.
Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue, still skating though divorced, who dislike each other.
Don’t even get me started about Nancy and Tonya.