Vultural

Memento: Parallel Cut - INH5

Filesize = 4 GB, Video = 720 X 480p mpgv, Audio = 448 kbps 5.1 AC3, No subs.

Very interesting cut of a film I struggled with for a few viewings, before deciding it had no story.
I appreciate how the color follow chronologically, while black and white fill in backstory.
The film flirts with Noir, but never commits.
Hate to say it, I was just as frustrated with this edit as I am with the DVD.
Speaking of DVD, the filesize of this strikes me as largish for 480p.
Oh, the rendering is terrific, sharp in all details.
Nonetheless, this is fit on a standard DVD-R blank, for those who still burn.
Dialogue is often murky, especially in B/W scenes, and I wonder if Nolan did that deliberately.
Subs would have helped. Funny thing is, codecs indicate spu subtitles, two tracks. Could not work them on computer or BluRay.
The editing is superb, audio especially.
Truth to tell, I’m not a Nolan diehard. His films are generally overlong, and often empty of substance. I only like three films that came out right in a row.
Nolan fans (that’s you) pick this up, you should really enjoy.

SCUM (May and American Psycho 2) - BlueYoda

Two lesser known exploitation flicks, merged into an entertaining drive-in twofer. May was more acclaimed - possibly - but Rachel (American 2) is equally memorable. Two polar opposites, yet extremely driven females pursue obsessions. Get out the popcorn with red karo syrup.

Video - Rachel bears heavier cutting, and is stronger for it. No annoying subplots, no Shatner buffoonery.
Kunis was terrible to begin with. If anything, BlueYoda’s editing made her more wooden.
May is an odder, more creative attempt, though again all secondary characters were lessened for the better.
With so much mass cutting, the editing is excellent. Not that you’ll notice, not that you’ll care.

Audio - Solid, nothing untoward here. Reading Neglify’s review, I half hoped for an inspired audio commentary.
I suspect that was a trick to lure the unwary into the menacing Chat Room. No subs.

Narrative - Both are fine, surprisingly cohesive. May was the superior film, with better actors and the dark vibe of “the other.”
May, I had confused with Kissed (another twisted female film), and I was momentary lost when it started.
Rachel, as edited, is breathless. Like hurtling downhill on a runaway roller coaster. Cheap roller coaster.

Enjoyment - Big yes for me! I must confess I preferred the first film, perhaps because it was so gleefully awful and it had more sheer energy. May doubtless has more fans who will nitpick this edit, but Rachel (who is really Rachael!) is an improvement over the original dreck. Still bad, but fun bad.

Jigsaw II: Endgame (Saw(s)) - Maniac / Zagadka

Filesize = 10 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 1536 kbps 5.1 DTS. Subs yes!

A better finale than the series itself offered. Also, a more thoughtful conclusion, more world weary.
The editing in this is fluid and creative, weaving Saw 3 - 4, along with earlier moments as flashbacks.
What is even better, is the audio mix. The DTS is a beast, music throbbing like a maddened tiger throughout. And yet, the dialogue remains clear. Major studios screw this up constantly. So delighted with surround effects and dynamic score, they suppress character conversations, leaving audiences asking, “What’d they say? Say what, huh?”
In keeping with the series, John Kramer, on his deathbed, is still “teaching”.
This edit, whether it means to or not, shows the sheer folly of his lessons.
People seldom learn, even apt pupils.
More than anything, this finale indicates the pointlessness of trying, perhaps even the futility of existence.

Hellman v. McCarthy - 2014 - 7/10

“Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.”
Oh, how wrong the joke, cute or snide, can backfire.
Mary McCarthy, chatting on the Dick Cavett Show, comments on Lillian Hellman.
And Hellman, who happens to be watching, immediately phones her attorney.
Dishy, bitchy play tracks the feud between two literary heavyweights, both past their prime.
Ugly viewing, acidly funny, desperately sad.
The legal battle, which went on for years, bankrupted McCarthy, damaged Hellman’s legacy.

Asylum - 1972 - 6/10

Young psychiatrist arrives at the mental clinic for an interview.
Whereupon he is informed the director is now a patient.
Our applicant is to interview four patients. If he discovers who is the real director, he is hired.
An adulteress, a tailor, an heiress, a puppet-maker.

Typical of an anthology series, the yarns are a mixed bag.
Camp dominates over fright. Nervous laughter jousts with laugh out loud giggles.
Script by a thumb-sucking prankster, Robert Bloch.

Ex Machina - 2015 - 6/10

Buzzworthy SpecFi (as opposed to SciFi) started irking me from the onset with numerous plotholes and logic leaps.
Hotshot programmer for mega Internet company wins competition for dream date week with the boss.
Turns out, what he really gets to do is test AI (artificial intelligence) on prototype robot with female face.
Dialogue driven tale, as boss - programmer - robot all play word games, maneuver, glean info.
High stakes office politics, ethical and intellectual, with a sexual undercurrent.
Several gorgeous outdoor sequences, notwithstanding, movie feels stagebound.

One is supposed to suspend disbelief, more so with futuristic fare. Still, this film asks for a lot of suspending.
Issues ( POSSIBLE SPOILERS )
Who can acquire so much acreage nowadays? Who is selling?
Vast, spotless complex. Not a roomba in sight, let alone janitor, guard, or most anyone else.
Random holes include: the alcohol crutch, power outages, team members (?), battery life, restraining gizmo.
Alicia Vikander memorable as bewitching Ava. Male characters - limitations abound.

Ward, C. E. - An Unheavenly Host

Recent title from Sarob Press may prove irresistible to M. R. James aficionados.
Eight stories here, all supernatural or black business off in the corners.
Mr. Andrews inherits Oakgrove Fennell Hall, hoary estate with a troubled history going back to the Civil War. In “Autumn Tale” the orchard still retains the taint of gunpowder and blood, although the new owner is a confirmed scoffer.
After the large and mid-sized churches have been tallied, researched and catalogued, the ministry types turn their gaze toward the leftovers. “The Chapter House Windows” features Lyeminster Church. Modest, unassuming, save for the stained glass, painted over, along with interior statuary, unfortunately broken and, to be candid, unpleasant looking.
“Sons Of The Father”, a lengthy yarn, has roots with the RMS Titanic. This is a slow descent of a personal journey and character study, with an ending anticipated yet unexpected.
“11334” is a sequel to James’ “The Tractate Middoth”. The affluent man, successful, accustomed to the word “yes” purchases Bretfield Manor. Half of the acreage is to be sold off and developed. The crumbling estate shall be knocked down. Once – he can find men willing to set foot on the grounds. Country folk, superstitious lot, he decides. First, however, something needs to be done about all those spiders.

Desert Nights - 1929 - 6/10

Capetown diamond mining company expects dignitaries.
The visiting lord and his daughter. “Probably bow-legged and cross-eyed,” predicts Rand, the manager.
Well, turns out she’s easy on the eyes, and Rand is smitten (by a luminous Mary Nolan).
Romantic sparks light the desert air.

Next day, events turn south and characters soon struggle in forsaken sand dunes.
Final Silent from John Gilbert is a good adventure yarn. His character is a tough guy, and he seems well suited.
Gable would land those roles, however.
I also believe, had Gilbert lived long enough, he would have done well in Noir.
Print I watched was in good shape, though there was a jump @ 54.25 indicating missing footage.

The Dark Past - 1948 - 6/10

Bust outta prison, check! Break roadblocks and get away, check! Head to the shack on the beach.
Wait, check that. We’ll hole up at that house owned by the college professor and his friends.
Cops will never suspect where we are.
Only thing, that professor is a doctor of psychology, and he starts digging into gang boss’s neuroses.
Marked as Noir, this is a psychological thriller, with some “moments” here and there.
Mostly, however, this bores.
William Holden makes a smoldering villain, if hammy at times.

Playing The Field: S01 - 1998 - 6/10

First season following the trials and tribulations of woman’s football club.
Limited pitch action, focus more on domestic dramas.
Infidelities, revelations, screaming matches, tears, cursing.
Probably OK if you can tolerate a limited soaper.

Got this for my wife who follows Premier League, particularly, though not exclusively, Man U.
I was glad when this concluded, gladder when she said she was uninterested in S02.

Looker - 1998 - 5/10

Two men and a woman share a three-way in a grungy alley.
Soon as the strokin’ and gropin’ climax, she finishes them with a straight razor.
The detective assigned the case tells his partner this happened twenty years earlier.
His father was the investigator, and he was murdered.
So, has the same killer resurfaced? Is she / he still alive? Hunting?
Bipolar flick. Hardcore porn sequences, yet the police narrative is full Noir.
Groaning and foaming to derivative synth score. Noir parts have sharp shadows, bluesy score, black n white flashbacks.
Perhaps inspired by the Neo Noir surge of the 90’s. More likely a rip of Basic Instinct.
Looker still better (and wetter) than most B-grade “erotic thrillers" of the 90’s.

Never Give A Sucker An Even Break - 1941 - 7/10

The Great Man (Fields) attempts to pitch his new film idea to a studio honcho.
Of course, there is no idea, no concept, no wall of post-it notes.
Rather, he improvises as he drones, to the consternation of his exasperated listener.
Utterly original, surreal film, stuffed with daffy antics.
From Squidulum to the rear observation deck on the airplane.
Using the Marx Brothers’ foil Margaret Dumont proves inspired casting, to boot.
Alas, this would be Fields last starring feature, as Paramount dropped him for Abbott & Costello.

Basic Instinct - 1992 - 7/10

Rough sex escalates into blood soaked sheets. The deceased, a famed rock star.
No witnesses, main suspect is the musician’s crime writer girlfriend.
Our inspector makes up his mind early on, and attempts to play mind games with the suspect.
Trashy Neo-Noir is smutty, sleazy, and a gorgeous homage to the Noir period.
Douglas perfect as the strait laced, simmering detective, Stone unforgettable as the manipulative femme fatale.
Splendid use of San Francisco locations, enhanced with a moody Jerry Goldsmith score.
For whatever reason, anytime I head to the Bay area, I watch this the night before.

J_Scarp73 said:

Thor: Love and Thunder -

The third Thor sequel is not the shot in the arm to the MCU that Ragnarok is, but I still had a fun time with it and believe that it shares that entry’s appeals.>

Thank you for the review, J_Scarp73.
I see you also posted this elsewhere.

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2316620-thor-love-and-thunder.html

Is that your main film blog?

Connell, Brendan - Heqet

Diary, journal, jottings of our narrator: visionary, artiste, street bum.
The repeating arc follows our narrator’s encounters with a timeless enchantress. While these break him from his lethargy, afterward he seems in ruins. Maybe.
He uses, abuses copious amounts of drugs and stimulants, opening his eyes to hitherto invisible dangers, yet blinding him to readily apparent perils.
Throughout, there are a flash of fevered words, concentrated prose poems, leavened with the odd prattle of the deranged street person.
I found our narrator to be unsympathetic and unreliable.
For every stray insight, there are pages where I think his mind is a nest of moldy cobwebs.
Following the novella are stories, fragments, exercises.
“The Sweet Princess Prized” would have made a ripe conte cruel, a hundred years earlier. Spoiled aristocrat sisters, jealousy, envy.
“The Organist” could have come from Huysmans. Holy cathedrals are the battlefields where performers of darkness and light duel in thunderous crescendos.

One of the reasons I bought Heqet was because this collection was hailed as modern decadence.
Curious, I thought. I reside in a time where electorates routinely install liars as representatives and judges.
Where children are massacred weekly in classrooms and citizens no nothing.
What fictions will be transgressive and taboo in an ethically bankrupt society?
Invention pales next to our ugly daily realities. Vitam vivere.

The Lair Of The White Worm - 1988 - 7/10

In rural England, archeologist (Peter Capaldi) unearths a large, mysterious skull.
Afterward, the sleepy village seems to rouse.
Lady Sylvia (a sinuous Amanda Donohoe) returns to Temple House.
Young Lord D’Ampton (Hugh Grant) participates in the village fete and cuts the gigantic snake in two, as did his ancestor.
Disappearances, deaths, and bewitchings.
Ken Russell’s campy horror is massively entertaining, if you are one for wry humor.
Sexy, wicked, blasphemous, laced with innuendo. Steeped, not so much with Stoker, but rather Oscar Wilde.
Almost as much fun, Russell’s commentary.
Ophidiophobics, slither yourselves far away from this one.

Recursion - 2018 - 6/10

Owing to powerful atmospheric disturbance, the Iris cannot land.
Instead, they send down a small beacon ship.
Giving filmmakers the benefit of the doubt, I’d say this SciFi short is an Alien homage.
Right down to the opening fonts. Professional across the board, but unoriginal save for the ending.
Corrected subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/recursion/english/2846401

The Spook Who Sat By The Door - 1973 - 7/10

Ordered to integrate, the CIA recruits a company of black males and begins training.
All wash out, save one candidate who becomes the token Negro in the Agency.
He learns combat, bomb making, guerrilla tactics, yet after five years he resigns to do social work in Chicago.
Once in the Windy City, he sets out to radicalize the hood, creating a militant commando force. The Cobras!
Wow, what a neat slice of subversion. Part Blaxploitation, total righteous anger.
There are stereotypes, to be sure, as well as conversational debates.
Issues of race, class, money, power are voiced throughout, often using humor or satire.
While B-film limitations are evident, this has a lot of heart and the rage resonates today.
Deemed too inflammatory and yanked soon after its release.
Score by Herbie Hancock, directed by Ivan Dixon of Hogan’s Heroes fame.

Tightrope - 1984 - 7/10

Grim, lesser known Eastwood vehicle, came out just as the Callahan films were getting stale.
Seedy New Orleans locations enhance a rough procedural of detective chasing a serial killer.
Most of the victims work in what is now termed the sex industry.
Eastwood’s detective, a bruised, divorced father, is also drawn to kinky moments in cushioned, satin rooms.

Scenery loaded with eye candy, strip clubs, rough trade, oiled female wrestlers, dwarf referee, the half sandwich combo, handcuffs, vibrators, masks.
Cruelty abounds, however, and several of the slayings are distressing.
Much of the photography is at night or inside sporting houses. VHS viewers used to complain how visually dark this is, but modern resolution screens will handle the blacks easier.

The Age Of Innocence - 1993 - 7/10

Scorsese’s opulent adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of manners in New York high society of the 1880’s.
Newland Archer’s future seems mapped out, enter the Law, maintain his position, wed May Welland
Enter the Countess Olenska, abused wife, though shunned by the best society.
Archer feels sympathy for her, then a kinship, followed by something more perilous.
This society is one of rules and boundaries, enforced with extraordinary, if quiet, pressure.
Acting is flawless, from leads to secondary players, to the narrator.
Lush visuals, ravishing set design. Oh, how the upper tier lived in the Gilded Age.

Maigret - 2022 - 6/10

After a young girl is found dead, Commissioner Maigret gets involved.
Police procedural all the way. Who was the girl? What did she do? Who were her friends?
Also, rather vague here, was she even murdered?
If so, what was the motive? Who did it and why?
The whole film, set in the early 1950’s, is photographed in a washed out, grimy haze.
The poorly lit affair resembles a TV movie.
Depardieu, overqualified for this, sleepwalks throughout.

The Informant - 2022 - 7/10
AKA - A Besúgó

Of all the luck.
1985. Geri lands a scholarship to the university in Budapest.
On the train, alas, the secret police interrogate and soon blackmail him.
“You want medicine for your ailing brother? You will infiltrate and spy on the pro-Democracy student group.”
Getting accepted by a wary group is one obstacle, dealing with a bullying handler is another.
Short Hungarian series mixes politics with mystery, psychological thriller with history.
Of the latter (history), a few Hungarian reviewers have mentioned that facts are a bit finessed.
Skillful blend of character types, most of whom one would encounter in any college.
Likewise student political activity, back then. Lately, passions and protests have gone to dust.

Xala - 1975 - 6/10

El Hadji prepares to marry wife number three, which wives number one and two are not thrilled about.
A small time official, as corrupt as any, Hadji steals, embezzles, short-changes.
Wedding night, calamity! His tool refuses to rise to the occasion.
He decides an impotence curse (xala) is the cause. But who cursed him.
Senegal film was problematic for me.
Despite an introduction by the curator (historical background and context), I was still out of my depth, not understanding Senegalese history, the recent independence from France, and rampant official misdeeds.
Also, marked as a comedy, I never got it. Never laughed once.
And the spitting.

Blind Date - 2015 - 6/10
AKA - Un Peu Beaucoup Aveuglément

Rather old-fashioned French romantic comedy.
Two individuals share an apartment floor, separated by non-insulated, thin wall.
They can easily hear each other, whether in the kitchen or in the shower.
Attraction grows, yet they have established boundaries, such as no physical contact.
Apparently, each has been burned one too many times in real relationships.
Set construction seem stagebound, and the basic plot is gauze thin.
Neither character is a social network slave, and both use their phones sparingly.
That strikes me as old-fashioned.
Second date movie.

Amélie - 2001 - 8/10
AKA - Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain

The happiness fairy, busy trying to repair others’ sorrows, she neglects her own needs.
Amélie waitresses at a small cafe filled with an assortment of characters.
She is an especially astute observer, drawn to small mysteries and things out of the ordinary.
Elements of mystery, romance, comedy combine in a visual feast.
The color palette is extraordinary. Lushly stylish, without being overwhelming.
Beginning to end, you feel like you are wandering in a dream.
The filmmaker’s attention never lapses, either, from major events to insignificant details.
Wonderful film, perfect date movie.