Vultural

Sitting Target - 1972 - 7/10

Following a major heist, Harry is pulling a long stretch.
His girlfriend doesn’t want to wait 15 years.
And … well … she met someone. And – she’s – sorta – pregnant.
Infuriated that another man is sleeping with his woman, Harry busts out.
Hard-nosed Brit Noir benefits from a minimal use of music, which I prefer.
Standout, imaginative photography is flashy yet not distracting.
Macho cast bolstered by a seething Oliver Reed and the ever-alert Ian McShane.

Objective, Burma! - 1945 - 6/10

Rousing WWII action finds Errol Flynn and company deep in Burma, taking on the Japanese.
Good flag waver, good morale booster, this still gave Flynn subsequent grief.
Burma was ostensibly a British sphere, not States.
Worse, Flynn was making movies instead of serving. He had tried enlisting in all branches, but was rejected owing to health (malaria, TB, VD).
Enough background. As a movie, this plays pretty well. Plenty of gritty action.
Mostly exterior photography, as well, rather than a soundstage.
Flynn good as stolid leader, foregoing his clichéd devil may care flamboyance.

Nelson, Michael - Queen Victoria And The Discovery Of The Riviera

Enjoyment might depend on how much one knows about Queen Victoria or how much one is into that period. Especially for those who know more from films.

Highland companion John Brown only accompanied her on a few French trips before his death. More controversial was her munshi attendant, Abdul Karim. In the film, he was resented owing to his skin. The book shines light on many more improprieties which antagonized the staff.

Victoria’s children, nieces, relations, kings, queens, tsars, whatnot make up the sweeping parade, along with global events.

I was familiar with the Dreyfuss Affair, and later when President Faure appears, I knew he would die soon enough owing to … bedroom activities.

Victoria stayed at numerous towns along the Riviera. Those and the citizens are well described. Also, her dining habits, how she traveled, and the costs per trip.

Masses of footnotes at the back, which I seldom dipped into. I read a chapter a day, then went back to whatever novel or short stories I was working on. Very little of the fin de siècle is evident.
As with all things pertaining to the Queen, much was redacted or burned by her daughter.

The House On Bare Mountain - 1962 - 4/10

Granny Good runs the home for good girls.
There are some morning exercises and learning, but mostly the girls traipse around naked.
An upcoming party promises to get out of hand.
Yeah, it’s all a front, since Granny runs a bootlegging business from the basement.
This is akin to Benny Hill meets Doris Wishman.
Silly, juvenile. Why Nicolas Winding Refn chose to restore this is beyond me.

English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/house-on-bare-mountain/english/3309595

Are You Awake? - 2023 - 6/10

Dale works as an “alarm clock”, going into homes, rousing sleepers.
Ensuring they are “awake”.
Gradually, the feeling of disconnection seeps. From clients, and within Dale herself.
“What do I enjoy? Is this life worth anything at all?”
An elliptical short, of alienation, depression, and quiet despair.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/are-you-awake/english/3309000

The Fall Of The House Of Usher - 2023 - 7/10

Diabolical spin on the opioid billionaire Sackler family steeped in Poe.
One by one, the scions are dying. Deaths ugly, brutal, horrifying. One day after another.
Can any spy a pattern? No, because they are the definition of stupid rich.
Roderick Usher invites his long time nemesis, Augustus Dupin, for a drink ‘n’ confess session.
And the history, shady deals, deviltry, trickle out over a short season.
Packed with poetry, allusions, character references, story spins, this should delight knowledgeable Poe fans.
Non-readers? Fear not, plenty of deaths and gore to satisfy bloodlust.
Most of the males are weak or stupid. Two daughters deserved more screen time (Camille especially).
I shun Hollywood TV soaps, but this one concludes. No unresolved cliffhangers.

The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle - 1980 - 6/10

Part documentary (questionable), part spoof.
Private-eye Steve Jones investigates the Sex Pistols. While Malcolm McLaren asserts claims to being the group’s mastermind.
Incoherent, mad and more than a little fraudulent.
Nevertheless, several performances are electrifying; for years this was the only way to see Sid’s “My Way”.
Vicious, one of Life’s saddest and greatest disasters is irresistible.
The slipshod ineptitude of this film is stupefying … and endearingly repellent.
Leonard Cohen said it best. “Everybody is the mad hero of his own drama.”

Invasion Of The Saucer Men - 1957 - 3/10

Not the Zanti misfits you are looking for.
Horny teenagers run over an extraterrestrial out in the backwoods.
While they go to alert the cops, a cheap chiseler arrives and opts to exploit the corpse.
Except more aliens arrive and snuff him.
SciFi / Horror / Comedy mix is barely watchable. (One of my brother’s faves, I have suffered it often.)
Cheap sets, ridiculous big-headed aliens, and can-do teenagers.
Spare yourself.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline - 2022 - 7/10

Yes, in remote areas gas and oil pipes are fairly isolated. Soft targets for the determined.
I recognized the types early: three, fully-committed hardcore souls, three earnest do-gooders, two tourists.
Each has a backstory, and a grievance against fossil fuel which many may identify with.
The chronology is meticulous, with step-by-step directions for bomb making.
In structure, the resembles a caper film. The team, the planning, the execution.
Great thriller - NOT overly preachy.

Manodrome - 2023 - 7/10

Ralphie now drives folks around in his car (Uber - Lyft - whatever it will be called in 2 years).
He has been laid off from an unnamed company for reasons unknown.
Anger, no, stymied rage, simmers just beneath his surface.
There is a pregnant girlfriend, whom he is unable to provide for or satisfy.
At the gym, he stares at other men, unsure of his identity, masculinity.
His is not toxic masculinity, but rather a stunted masculinity.
A mysterious clan of men (“Dads” and “Sons”) attempt to help him.
Jesse Eisenberg (if perhaps, a shade too old) is exceptional in this analysis of how modern society reduces males.

Proxy - 2020 - 7/10

Surrogate, copy, replicant, clone, Victoria services clients.
Unresolved issues, simmering anger, lost love.
She is the target of, more often than not, hate, regret, violence.
A copy, tensions do accumulate, nevertheless.
Futuristic short benefits from quality actors, and restrained direction.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/proxy-2020/english/3306701

El Conde - 2023 - 7/10

The adult children gather like vultures once they hear dear papa is ready to die.
Where is the money? Where are the bonds, the documents, the deeds, the wealth?
He doesn’t remember. He’s tired of living, He’s old. 250 years old, perhaps more.
French born Claude Pinochet would eventually become Augusto Pinochet, dictator of Chile.
That was before the overthrow. Now he lives in what appears to be an abandoned detention camp.
Very funny horror film, chock full of history, satire, and the perfidiousness of our species.
Arch from beginning to end. Perhaps too arthouse for the hoi polloi.
This assumes one knows “something” about history: French, Chilean, English.

Mills, Daniel - Moriah

1874, journalist Silas Flood travels from New York to Rutland, Vermont. There are reports of a family of spiritualists who can summon the dead. Ghostly apparitions who can speak and comfort bereaved family left behind.
A miracle? Or a fraud? Whichever truth, there is a story, and there are eager readers.

Flood is an ex-Army chaplain, faith shattered during the Civil War, where he was part of Grant’s campaign. Of ghosts, he clutches his own, as do most of the characters in this.

The narrative spills from various witnesses and players, sweeping from a decade preceding the war, to blood soaked battlefields, into a parched 1874.

The family of spiritualists are a particularly complicated tribe.

Mills’ style is rich and textured, meticulously structured. Multitask readers, steer away.
Mills reads like a wayward descendant of Faulkner, which I mean as a compliment.
I went into this one stone cold, knowing nothing, and was absorbed and immensely pleased.

Kiss And Make Up - 1934 - 6/10

Dr. Maurice owns and operates the highly successful Temple Of Beauty in Paris.
Females engage in his expensive treatments, buy his creams, and, of course, adore him.
So much so, he suffers “women problems”, while failing to notice his loyal right hand, Annie.
Broad satire of beauty cures, and the chasing thereof, is timeless.
At this point, a discerning viewer can easily see the transformation of Archie into Cary.
The charm, the self-depreciating humor, the grace with females.
Echoes of the Music Hall lingers, as well, with Archie playing piano and singing “Love Divided By Two”.

Red Coats - 2024 - 6/10

Whatever that “thing” is, it just took out 400 men.
Survivors were those who fled. At the front of the yellow squad is a young, inexperienced commander.
Lost patrol, in the Colonial wilderness, in conflict with Washington’s troops.
Excellent photography in this short horror – thriller.
Premise could easily be expanded into a feature.

The Vampire’s Coffin - 1958 - 5/10
AKA - El Ataud del Vampiro

Why, why, why would anyone exhume the coffin of a slain vampire?
I suppose if you are a doctor, wanting to experiment on something new.
Just don’t go removing that wooden stake in his … oops … too late.
For a long time, I was utterly engaged in this followup.
The photography is superb, in many ways breathtaking.
Deep blacks, imaginative use of shadows.
German Robles, returning as the stylish Count Lavud, is a master of cape flourishing.
Unfortunately the romantic male lead has been rewritten as a skirt chasing lech who has had an IQ lobotomy.
Along with insufferable comic relief.

El Vampiro - 1957 - 6/10

Marta arrives at the hacienda of her aunts and uncle.
It is near ruins, dust, cobwebs, seeping fog.
Most villagers and servants have fled following a series of inexplicable deaths.
Only the newcomer, the caped count chooses to remain. Indeed, he want to buy the property.
Outstanding Mexican horror boasts great photography, great sets, a fine score.
Restrained direction helps, too.
Those who pine for the Golden Age of Universal horror, this is a wonderful homage.

Trapped - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Ófærð

A body is fished out of the harbor. Actually a torso.
The body had been chopped up, while the cruise ship anchored nearby.
A vessel apparently engaged in human trafficking.
As for the harbor? Chinese investors want to transform it into a mega port.
If enough locals are willing to sell their land, to their elected officials in charge.
Icelandic series follows numerous threads on a small island community.
Blizzard conditions mean the tiny police force is on their own.
Inspired plotting in this modern Noir.

Octopussy - 1983 - 6/10

The traveling circus, a Soviet art thief, Fabergé, the cult of the octopus, and Bond.
This 007 outing tones down much of the silliness and camp associated with Moore’s version.
Still as light-hearted outing, this is sleek and very good James bond vehicle.
Louis Jourdan makes an elegant and formidable villain.
Maud Adams, cool and reserved as leader of a smuggling ring.
Comic relief moments, however, should be removed in any director’s cut or fanedited version.
With Bond, comedy belongs in dialogue and black humor situations.

Murders In Pont-Aven - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres à Pont-Aven

The first death was a convicted art forger, dating the gallery owner.
Right after the exhibition of Émile Blot, featuring newly discovered paintings.
The local gendarme will be assisted, as always, by an outsider.
Who, it turns out, had investigated the death of the gendarme’s mother years earlier.
French mystery has art references, an intriguing backstory, side stories, and NO romance,
Better than the cutesy “will they, won’t they” biscuits.

Kiss Me Goodbye - 1982 - 6/10

Mild-mannered remake of Jorge Amado’s “Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands” (a very saucy novel).
Kay’s troublesome husband, Jolly, is dead, except he won’t stay dead.
Even while she prepares to remarry, Jolly keeps haunting her.
So much so, she is constantly confusing the two husbands, responding wrongly to questions.
Watching, this is often funny, especially if you view in a library or revival theater with an audience.
The spark is diminished at home, and this comes across as a bland sitcom.
James Caan steals the film, while Sally Field and Jeff Bridges lack chemistry.

Singapore Sue - 1931 - 5/10

Sailors enter the bar / cafe in the middle of the dance revue.
The showoff immediately hits on the girl selling dolls and souvenirs.
No matter how attractive, she ignores the pompous boor, no matter that he is Cary Grant.
Early Grant role, and his manner and delivery are straight out of music hall
Musical short, three songs.

Grenfell: In The Words Of Survivors - 2023 - 7/10

“Most of our words come from interviews, and sometimes they’ll come from the public inquiry, and, occasionally,
we’ll speak as ourselves.”
Raw theatre, piecing together memories of residents, complaints about the gradual deterioration of the estate.
Along with testimonies from parties responsible for maintenance and upkeep – who shirked.
Mitigating factors barely alluded to. Cool Britannia was over and Britain’s budget woes were massive.
Also, the Grenfell Tower was in Chelsea Kensington, and was an extraordinarily valuable piece of real estate.
Diminished safety standards, a laissez faire attitude toward repairs, ill regard for the dwellers.
Gripping throughout. Bear in mind, this is theatre – not a documentary
The anguish of survivors, along with the grief likely carried to their graves.
English subtitles = https://www.mediafire.com/file/rf4me8d3e7n3rqp/Grenfell_In_Words_Survivors-2023.srt/file

The Furies From Borås - 2017 - 6/10

PG adaptation of Anders Fager’s brutal, sexually charged story.
Here, the blood, the semen, the alcohol, and other lubricants are minimized.
Nevertheless, a male sacrifice is sought out for the rites, and the “meat” is culled.
His chances? One drug addled male and a fistful of sturdy, ravenous girls.
High school production shows budget limitations, and the graphic carnality is only hinted at.
The tone is correct and the furies seem accurate, rather than Hollywood kewpies.

Love Honour And Obey - 2000 - 7/10

Jonny, disgruntled courier, has ambitions. Also a mate with underworld connections.
Jude, nephew to powerful crime boss Ray.
A quick word, Jonny is in, whereupon he soon … what’s the phrase … starts going postal.
Encroaches on rival territory, tries to initiate a full scale mob war.
Absolutely one of the funniest gangster movies ever!
Stellar cast, everyone having a romp, packed with catchy songs.

♪ No one gets to live too long. Where the soul of a man is easy to buy.
♪ Everybody’s wheeling, everybody’s stealing. All the low are living high.
♪ On the avenues and alleyways. ♫