Vultural

The Pledge - 1981 - 6/10

The fate of the highwayman. Rob, ride hard, live well, for the gallows await.
Flashbacks and voiceovers recall crimes and revels.
Memories recalled from the final prison cell, or the gibbet.
Later, confederates recall their pledge to honor the corpse.
Moody, brutal short of the glamorous life.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3358862

Yokai Monsters 100 Monsters - 1968 - 6/10
AKA - Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari // 妖怪百物語

Yes, the woods are dangerous, dark and deep, with forces lurking everywhere.
Yet, the perfidious and treacherous souls of men are much worse.
The wealthy landowner (property developer) plans to tear down the shrine and houses for a brothel.
In cahoots, the crooked, corrupt local magistrate. Well, profits outweigh public needs.
An evening of sake and ghost stories culminates with a purification –
Which the men of power forego, scoffing at superstition.
There are about five narratives in this, but everything stitches well and moves briskly.
Monsters are old school puppets, costumes, acrobatics, pasteboard.

Crá - 2024 - 7/10

Mom had vanished a decade earlier.
Some thought foul play, others that she fled.
The husband was a monster and the business plunging into bankruptcy.
Until, rising from the bog, the corpse rises, showing signs of murder.
Theories increase as quickly as suspects.
Slow boil Irish thriller, set in bleak, lonely boglands.
Unsavory souls, hustlers and buried histories.
Forced village camaraderie masks bleak existence.

Walking Back - 1928 - 6/10

Whew, the unbridled energy of flaming youth, Jazz Age.
Drinking, dancing, gambling, prizefights, horse racing, reckless exuberance.
Desperate for a date with sizzling Patsy, Smoke Thatcher “borrows” a neighbor’s car.
Telling himself, “borrowing isn’t stealing.”
Thing is, Smoke is a middle class wannabee, limited budget, no connections.
The pace is furious, dialogue laced with 20’s slang, and then the gangsters.
Cecil B. DeMille’s salacious touches spray throughout.

Rio Bravo - 1959 - 7/10

The brother of a land baron rancher, accidentally kills a man in the saloon.
Incarcerated in the town jail, waiting for the territorial marshal to conduct him to the courthouse.
Meantime, the powerful brother tries to cut a deal, then musters gunfighters.
What is essentially a Western standoff mixes tension with bullets.
Doesn’t hurt that the cast features John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan.
Also young Ricky Nelson, who never caught the film breaks.
Excellent old-fashioned Western, although the genre would be rewritten within a decade.

Animal Farm - 1954 - 7/10

After a barnyard revolution, a hierarchy of equals is established.
Except … some animals are more equal than others.
Leaders and drones. The workers.
True believers are swiftly displaced by domineering power grabbers.
Highly effective and harrowing adaptation of Orwell’s cautionary novel.
Whatever ‘ism you join, belong to, or fall under, 99% of us are destined to be pawns.

Murder In Rouen - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Meurtres à l’Abbaye de Rouen

The body tumbled from one of the tall spires.
Suicide, accident, or homicide?
Previously disgraced Inspector Mège, arrives; who is as ill-tempered as they come.
Dislikes journalists, treats colleagues like staff.
This one is all urban, all the time, with dizzying aerial shots inside and outside the abbey.
Mystery is well designed, although as corpses mount you’ll will zero in on the guilty.

Thank you. I think I will pass.
Listening to only one episode weekly of “A New Hope” will last me months.

Recently, I started relistening to A New Hope for the first time in 20 years .
Originally, I had taped cassettes during the NPR airings.
I remember Empire being OK, but lacking the wealth of backstories and side stories.
Never heard Jedi; didn’t that come out later?
Are there extras on Jedi like there were on A New Hope?
If so, I might track this down, although I disliked the film.

We All Lie - 2024 - 6/10
AKA - Hun Yin Gong Lue // 婚姻攻略

Top drama writer Su Li and actor husband Shuheng have a picture perfect marriage.
Except he is romping the sheets with Yingying, an earthier, more carnal oriented female.
Of course, the wronged wife finds out and quickly plots revenge, financial and career wise.
Whereupon the adulterous pair work to get even.
C-drama of deception, vengeance, and scheming bounces along for awhile.
Until the narrative loses momentum and a mushy sidetrack enters.
Then, all downhill into soap opera weeping and flowers.
I suspect the Chinese morality police took the punch bowl away.

Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp - 1970 - 5/10

So, late at night, past 2:00 AM, you’re so hammered you cannot fall asleep or pass out.
Switch on late night TV, endless river of mindless dreck.
You jump channels until you reach a nightclub where a chimpanzee band is performing.
Until you realize this hopping joint is a meeting place for spies.
Good agents APE versus baddies CHUMP.
Beyond weird, Lance Link could only have emerged at the tail end of the 60’s.
My brain eventually seized, as I wondered: they play instruments, drive cars, ride motorcycles.
Someone trained them? Why aren’t they in politics?

Cineonaut said:

Vultural said:

Star Wars: The Epic Picture - T-Bone

Where did you find a copy of this? (Star Wars: The Epic Picture by T-Bone) I’ve been looking all over but can’t find any sources.

I no longer have a copy of this one.
I’m sure I got this at FE, where I was once more active.
Info is not working for me at present, but that is the first place to check, followed by Fan Edit Central.
If nothing else, join FE (if you haven’t already) and request there.
Mind you, youngling, get your post count up. No one will help you with one post, that smacks of a bot or tourist.
Participate, let other members know you. Boost your count to 10.
Good luck out there/

The Seventh Curse - 1986 - 6/10
AKA - Yuen Chun Hap yu Wai See Lee // 原振侠与卫斯理

The maiden is about to be sacrificed.
In steps the hero, Yuan, who rescues her, and is cursed for meddling.
Blood curse, seven stages, and with the seventh he will die.
What to do? Consult good friend Wisely (Chow Yun Fat) who recommends returning to Thailand.
Over-the-top, bonkers adventure flick that merely flirts with coherence.
Action, sex, blood vessels bursting during sex, shootouts, monsters, skeletons, rocket launcher, fighting monks.
Great Hong Kong adventure. Not Top 50, but a lot of fun.

The Truth About Cats And Dogs - 1996 - 6/10

Veterinarian and radio chat show advisor Abby lads a blind date with a hot stud.
Only thing, he’s interested in her via her voice, not the short frump package.
Hey! How about my gorgeous model neighbor impersonating me?
So, our guy soon loves beauty and the brain, and he cannot put two and two together.
Because he has the perception of a blind gerbil without a cane.
Forced complications in far-fetched RomCom.
Wisecracking, sharp Garofalo is best thing here. Other leads miscast.

Mask Of The Evil Apparition - 2021 - 6/10

After two bombs, director Alex Proyas fell to working short films.
Perhaps hoping to claw back to the big leagues.
Barefoot and confused, the young girl finds herself in the wet city.
She decides to trust one of the brothers inside a bar, just as pursuit begins.
A great looking short, steeped in shadows and powerful visuals.
The story itself is unresolved, and may have been a pitch for the Dark City TV series.

The Shawl - 1989 - 6/10

An exploratory interview. Miss A consults psychic John for advice.
She is careful, knowing that there is a strong chance he is a charlatan.
Next scene, glibly boasting to his protégé / lover, Charles, we realize he is a money seeking fraud.
Female intuition notwithstanding, the séance is arranged.

David Mamet chamber play of mystery and deception.
Multiple deceptions, since, human nature being as it is, lies are common.
Unlike many Mamet plays, the language is fairly clean.

Various (Editor: Black, Andy) - Necronomicon Book Two

This set rectifies an omission from the first book straightaway. Jess Franco. The first section details how heavily influenced Franco was by de Sade, referencing several films. Following is a lively interview with Franco.

“Abnormal Ward” explores earlier films of Hisayasu Sato, often voyeuristic prowls by damaged observers amidst indifferent back alley cruelty.

“Strange Images Of Death” is a real high point in this collection. Paralleling the Polanski version of Macbeth with the Tate murders. Of further reading for the Manson events, find Ed Sanders’ “The Family” followed with “Helter Skelter” by Vince Bugliosi.

“Tits, Ass and Swastikas” serves as an introduction to Nazispliotation. For my money, it would be easier and more efficient to watch the breezy, sleazy documentary, Fascism On A Thread.

Less popular than his more celebrated works, Russ Meyer’s Mudhoney is presented as an early take on the demise of the American Dream in “Rope Of Flesh”.

Final section, “Female Vampires”, checklists the earliest with Gloria Holden, onto Hammer, then Franco and Rollin. Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” is pretty much the inspiration for many of the early films. With Franco and Rollin, one offers blood and carnality, the other dreamlike sensuality.

A good followup to Volume One, used copies usually affordable.

Street Law - 1974 - 6/10
AKA - Il Cittadino si Ribella

Wrong place, wrong time. Carlo is in a bank during an armed holdup.
He tires to retain his own money, but is kidnapped and beaten for interfering.
Manly pride wounded, he vows revenge. Murder.
Trying to infiltrate the Underworld gives him nothing but more danger.
Euro-Crime is bookended with adrenaline and violence.
Mid-section more leisurely as Carlo plans, fails, inches closer to retribution.
Franco Nero connects as the highly strung vigilante, Barbara Bach underutilized.

Soapdish - 1991 - 6/10

Ratings are bad, the “star” suffers a relationship crisis, supporting players joust for the throne.
Hit and miss comedy set in the realm of soap opera.
Very much a parody of the genre, with particularly good comic casting.
Downey, droll and wry, Field with emotional outbursts, Kline a master of timing, Moriarty the caustic femme.
Their strengths, however, don’t always mesh.
Earlier sections play like theatre, gears sometimes slipping until the final act, sheer farce.
Nostalgia for some, as soaps have declined in viewership.

The Last Ten Days - 1955 - 6/10
AKA - Der Letzte Akt

Berlin is encircled by the Soviets and Americans.
Hitler berates generals, studies maps that he thinks hold hundreds of thousands of fresh troops.
For most down in his bunker, carpe diem. Drink, sing, boff, await annihilation.
Based on diaries and interviews, this may or may not accurately portray events.
Albin Skoda memorable as a conflicted Hitler, half mad, scarred after the 20 July Plot.
A late Pabst film, shot as an elevated docu-drama, worthwhile for fans of this director.

Murdercise - 2023 - 3/10

Pretty poor, even for my taste for bad cinema.
Masquerading as cops, the Skid Row Strangler targets high end hotties.
Meanwhile, a bevy of lovelies films an exercise workout video.
Stripper, dancer, wrestler, Goth, and others squat, spread, and flex their plex.
All vie to be the cover girl – and one by one, killings commence.
Spoof of 1980’s Slasher flicks has atrocious directing, and some whoopsie acting.
Not as funny as it aspires.
Bored, I examined complexions. Several of the ladies need a dermatologist.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3358738

Rick Derringer “Hang On Sloopy” @ 77

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR4u1xOjCX8

Crime Story - 1993 - 6/10
AKA - Zhōng Àn Zǔ // 重案組

If you can’t beat ’em – then kidnap and ransom them.
So, a crooked cabal decides, before snatching an unscrupulous property developer.
Midway investigations, Detective Chan suspects his partner might be crooked.

Blistering Jackie Chan actioner dispenses completely with comedy.
This is bullets and bare bones, wild stunts across Hong Kong and Taipei.
The influence of John Woo can be seen, although lacking the bloodshed.
For Jackie fans, still one for your to-view list, and edge-of-the-seat good.

The Decline Of The American Empire - 1986 - 6/10

“The concept of personal happiness permeates the literature of a nation or civilization as its influence wanes.
"Personal happiness means the expectation of receiving instant gratification in daily life.”
Thus begins a witty, philosophical opening act.
Followed by a quartet of women at the exercise arena, while at home menfolk prepare dinner.
The ladies gossip, confess affairs, analyze male insecurities, while the males boast of prowess.
This whole section is terribly funny, yet once the dinner party commences, the easy cheer evaporates.
As in life situations, innuendo and snarky competitiveness burdens the table.
A Canadian film, this should appeal to fans of dialogue driven French fare.

Human Centipede - 2009 - 5/10

Straight off, the doctor is deranged. Even his premise is pointless.
Explain that to his drugged and imprisoned guinea pigs.
Three sections: front, middle, caboose. Head to rear.
All dining on unhappy meals. Dog food, or leftovers.
The Horror is offset by the grotesque repulsiveness of the premise.
The comedy, and yes, that is pitch black, is again overwhelmed.
Body horror buffs will have no trouble watching with popcorn.
Although you might eye others around you, wondering what part of the chain you would be in.