Vultural

The Monster - 1925 - 5/10

On lonely country road, cars crash and drivers disappear. Most perplexing to dense locals.
Meek clerk studies his “How To Be A Detective” manual and wonders aloud (in inter-titles) about the empty mental institution nearby.
First third of film packed with stale jokes, uninspired gags.
Naturally, a trio wind up in the sanitarium.

Look out! The asylum director is none other than Lon Chaney.
Events darken considerably, though comic relief springs at the worst moments.
One wonders if film makers worried audiences might die of heart-attacks.
Creaky, stagebound, mostly tiresome, punctuated with a few grisly, if not startling sequences.

That’ll Be The Day - 1973 - 7/10

Late 1950’s, early 1960’s, Jim is aimless and angry.
School bores him and he finds petty jobs at a pub, then an amusement park.
A Lothario to the core, he disposes of females as quickly as he hooks them.
He treats his best friend shabbily, lets everyone around him down, escapes into music.
In short, he is extremely unlikable, and a 70’s version of the “angry young men.”
For all that, this is spectacular at recreating the look, feel and music of the era.
Costars include Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Billy Fury.
View as a British Invasion roots story.

White Mischief - 1987 - 6/10

An aging tycoon and his trophy bride arrive in Kenya from England.
The stunning wife is fresh chum to hungry sharks.
Kenya in the 1940’s resembles Weimar Berlin. Anything goes.
Drugs, gambling, wife swapping, extramarital affairs, the occasional murder.
Ah, there you go.
The debauchery angles are more entertaining, the decadent behavior to break the boredom.
Plus, it feels like the actors were enjoying themselves far more in that section.
The police business, the mystery element, saps the film.

Shooting For Socrates - 2014 - 6/10

Sheesh, how many football shows are there? I don’t review half the ones I sit though.
This isn’t even Premiere League, which is what the girls follow. This is World Cup. 1986.
Anyway, Northern Ireland somehow made it into the World Cup tournament back in 1986.
Up against the mighty Brazil.
The film contrasts the situation back in Northern Ireland during the time of the “troubles” and the Thatcher Government with the sport hopes. Troubles are alluded to, rather than the confrontational display.
The film is about underdog Northern Ireland getting division play against Brazil, captained by their philosophical leader, the title named, Socrates.
Little training shown, and round play is more from the TV onlooker perspective.
Passable - though I’ve seen better - this is sorta feel-good, but more souvenir for aging fans.

snake_in_the_eagle_shadow said:

Vultural said:

I left CSchmidlapp a query both here and at Fanres.

Did you ever receive a response? I PMd him here and he hasn’t gotten back to me yet.

I have heard from the Commodore and should be able to update in a few days.

A Tale Of Tragedy - 2022 - 6/10

An isolated coastal abbey is besieged by forces of darkness.
Prayer seems the nuns chief buttress.
Although their numbers seem to decline each day.
Irish horror short of corruption and betrayal.
This boasts a rich, enveloping sound mix.
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/a-tale-of-tragedy/english/2868385

Woman In The Dunes - 1964 - 7/10
AKA - Suna no Onna // 砂の女

An insectologist, on vacation, lodges for the night with a village woman.
Her home lies at the bottom of a sand pit, which is constantly collapsing.
Next day, he frantically searches for an escape.
She is resigned to Fate, especially since villagers are aware and do nothing.
What follows is frustration, rage, tears, sexual release, desperation and the sheer pointlessness of existence.
Haunting photography throughout, although the pace is deadly slow, mirroring the ennui of the pair.
Definitely NOT the casual evening, popcorn flick.

The Nice Guys - 2016 - 6/10

Better than Inherent Vice, not as good as Boogie Nights, this detective mystery does a nice job evoking the shallow, at times over the top, 70’s.
Gosling and Crowe laugh out loud funny as bickering duo who stagger into hitmen, cover ups, porn stars, and great parties.
Plot completely derivative of TV of the era - “”Starsky & Hutch,” “Columbo,” “Streets Of San Francisco,” many more - take your pick.
Song choices were wrong, clothes and cars acceptable.
Angourie Rice, as Gosling’s daughter, is a gem, though her admittance to adult parties - never, ever, ever.
Lightweight. Keep expectations down and you’ll enjoy more.

The Last Weynfeldt - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Die Letzte Weynfeldt

Adrian, art connoisseur and advisor, finishes the suicide note, loads the derringer, points.
Then wait! How about a last martini?
And at the bar, a female sidles up and makes conversation.
Audiences are immediately on guard, Adrian is not, and that rings false.

Because in the art scene, he would be accustomed to hustlers and frauds,
Execution is whimsical and the result seems a cheery mystery.

Gargoyles - 1972 - 6/10

“Shucks no, this ain’t no hoax, this here is the genuine article, found up in them hills.”
A professor and his daughter view the odd skull inside a New Mexico tourist trap.
Corny spiel, fake skeleton, hoax for gullible turistas. The site burning down soon afterward, coincidence.
Strange events increase, however, as do the legends.
Early TV movie suffers budget limitations in sets and photography.
Casting Cornell Wilde likely used up a big percentage of the funding.
Costumes and makeup (Stan Winston) are first class.
For all that, this remains a decent horror film, with an original spin on the ancient demons.

Après Vous - 2003 - 6/10

Late night, taking a shortcut, a head waiter notices a suicide attempt.
He intervenes - rescues, if you will - and takes responsibility for the man.
Lesson 1) Don’t take shortcuts. Lesson 2) Mind your own business.
The wannabe suicide is a hopeless mess. No job, no place to live, no self esteem.
Crucially, his girlfriend recently dumped him.
Just like you or I, the waiter sets out to rebuild the guy’s life.
Cotton candy, French fluff. Not too talky, but certainly strains believability.

Audition - 1999 - 7/10
AKA - Ōdishon // オーディション

Blind dates are the poor man’s crapshoot. Prospects from friends or family even worse.
Say, why not devise questions, create an audition set, and let attractive candidates talk naturally?
Shigeharu even has a friend who is a film producer, willing to assist.
And the plan works! He makes a connection with an absolutely gorgeous Asami.
As with all romance stories, there are a few hiccups to overcome.
Gleefully perverse Takashi Miike “date” film grows ever more unsettling as the clock ticks.
Admired and reviled by critics, a warped mirror to pinku eiga.
Not for the squeamish.

Ghost Story - 1982 - 6/10

A gentlemen’s secret, suppressed for fifty years, seems to have awoken.
The old men, once vital, now frail, realize a supernatural predator has returned.
This is late night, cozy horror, already out of step with the times.
Casting is impeccable, with three Hollywood icons (Fairbanks, Astaire, Douglas) in final performances.
Eroticism and violence are tightly reined, so much you can probably watch this uncut on TV nowadays.
During its initial run, and after Dawn Of The Dead and Alien, this just came across as quaint.

Canals: The Making Of A Nation - 2015 - 7/10

Another canal documentary.
Usually, these focus on the traveler, be they an experienced boat person or some pseudo celebrity who exclaims and gushes in feigned astonishment.
Other docs follow the hiker, traipsing the tow paths.
Those are more picture postcards.

This one is more in depth. Six 30’ episodes follow the engineers who dreamed and designed them, geologists who learned to read the earth, financiers who floated stock shares, navvies (navigators) who provided the sheer muscle, and the boat people who worked the narrow boats.

Recently restored canals are now flooded with daytrippers and the genteel.
The doc flashes a lens at a more troubling possibility - tenants who cannot afford a home.
Always uncertain is the future, though.

The Bride With White Hair - 1993 - 6/10
AKA - Bak fat moh lui zyun // 白髮魔女傳

Gracious, what an amazing film!
The uneasy successor to the Wu-Tang clan faces a new enemy.
A highly potent set of conjoined twins, seemingly bent on world annihilation.
Spearheading the army of evil, the Wu-Tang leader’s childhood girlfriend.
Doomed romance, superb use of lighting (indoor sets), wild battle sequences.
Dark fantasy from Hong Kong’s golden era.
Followed by a sequel (which ain’t much).

Magical Mystery Tour - 1967 - 6/10

The movie Beatles’ fans pretend to forget about.
Fab Four (wizards) climb aboard a bus bound for anywhere.
The bus is merely a conveyance to reach assorted destinations.
Once there, a musical number.
Plot is nonexistent in this stoned mess, filmed in the Psychedelic 60’s.
Much of the English daft humor will escape viewers, as well as music hall homages.
Think knock-off, amateurish Monty Python, though they were two years away.
Watch for the music, and for the Beatles.

Ricki And The Flash - 2015 - 5/10

Feel-good smoothie about mom who abandoned kids and husband decades earlier to pursue rock n roll fame.
Now she returns to straighten everyone’s lives and remind them how special they are and how much mommy still loves them.
Story is predictable and contrived. Characters are pencil lite sketches.
The bar where she and her band perform decades old cover songs looks like a cliché, and the lower echelon clientele would never drink enough to keep the rent paid in Tarzana (ain’t no cheap rent in that Valley burg).
Streep likely had fun playing a rocker (even a failure), but the character is as shallow as a birdbath.

Aadland, Florence - The Big Love

Part tell-all slice, part defensive explanation.
Mrs Aadland recounts daughter Beverly’s years as Errol Flynn’s final girlfriend.
Wide-eyed gullible (Mr Flynn drank? Did drugs?), yet also calculated (Beverly will be the next Mrs Flynn).
Popular in its day and critically well received, Aadland’s memoir is inexplicably OP at present.
I had sought this on and off for years, and after watching the recent Kevin Kline film searched harder.
Will interest Flynn fans, though the film used this book as a template and will be easier for most to find.

The Mechanic - 1972 - 6/10

Well made crime mystery examines a professional hitman.
Extensive observation, elaborate preparations, the falling dominoes.
He is getting a little old for the game, however, and takes on a protégé.
From there on, the film enters darker territory.
The aspiring killer either has trouble listening, or has an agenda.
Restrained throughout, and a perfect vehicle for Bronson.
Less seen today, possibly because audiences demand more flamboyant escapades.

The Pillow Book - 1996 - 6/10

Nagiko, model living in Hong Kong, merges art with physical pleasure
From childhood, her father had written calligraphy on her body and this is now an obsession.
Now an adult, she begins writing stories on the naked bodies of lovers.
As with many Peter Greenaway films, there is a tremendous amount of nudity.
To Westerners, characters and storylines may blur as Asian, yet there are really contrasts of Hong Kong and Japanese cultures, with the injection of Jerome, Nagiko’s lover.
Arthouse, approaching pretentious at times, some visuals recall Kwaidan.
I am convinced when I saw this theatrically, Pillow Book was widescreen. Everything I read now states Greenaway supervised the 4 X 3 transfer.

It’s A Free World - 2007 - 7/10

Unpleasant, Ken Loach “message” film about the exploitation of undocumented workers.
Angela is fired from her recruiting job after repulsing a groping male coworker.
Soon enough, she and a friend set up their own black market agency.
Companies want temp workers, day workers, casual workers.
Immigrants, especially illegal immigrants without papers, are less likely to complain when cheated.
The females soon realize there is a lot of profit in flop houses, as well.
So they lease sh!tholes, jam them with illegals, double book the rooms so sleeping is only by shifts.

Others I viewed this with were horrified. I shrugged and said it was fairly accurate, if over dramatized.
I worked with illegals for many years and most were treated OK, though we had one SOB boss who contacted Immigration every time payroll ran tight.

All Things Must Pass - 2015 - 7/10

Documentary follows the rise and demise of Tower Records.
History charts the humble beginning to the pinnacle to the disastrous aftermath of “file-sharing.”
Entertaining throughout, though the last section is uncomfortable.
Greybeards share memories (Tower execs, Label moguls, famous shoppers) in between vintage photos.
Smiles all around, but one cannot escape the notion of widespread nepotism at HQ.
By 2004, giant record stores passed into memory, Gen X-ers were likely the last generation to shop the bins.

^

Rather difficult for me to rate or judge this objectively.
I shopped Tower Records on Sunset Blvd at least once a month during the 70’s.
This was paradise for music buffs. Even when I was stone broke, it was comforting to peruse endless albums.
Peaches was expensive, Licorice Pizza more so, Wherehouse and Music + were affordable, but lacked depth.
The Valley had a Tower in Van Nuys, but it was never as thrilling as the Sunset store.
I still own tons of recordings. CDs sound superior, vinyl holds memories.
The bittersweet finale I understood personally.
A decade after shopping one last time inside Tower Records, I started working for Sound Warehouse, a rival deep catalogue record shop, and would be there until I switched off the lights in 2004.
The application form asked whether “taking drugs or alcohol has ever interfered with your work?" That was the drug test.
It was one of the coolest jobs in the world. Sadly, new generations will never get the chance.
In the 80’s, the staff were knowledgeable and passionate music snobs, clubbers, collectors. Half the crew was female, always, which was and remains unheard of in the extremely sexist record store universe.
By 2000, most of my coworkers had never bought an album in their life. They downloaded tens of thousands of tunes that they never listened to. Music was free, and free had no perceived value.
Causes for the demise of the music industry were referenced in All Things Must Pass.
Won’t bother to repeat them. Things truly do vanish, however.
Traditions, technology, burger joints, friends, you name it.
Good documentary. Likely to resonate more with viewers aged 40 or older.
^

10 minutes inside Tower Records - Sunset Blvd.
Back in the early 70’s -

https://archive.org/details/casacsh_000018

Jeremiah Johnson - 1972 - 6/10

AKA “Liver-Eating Johnson” though the film underplays that.
Redford plays ex-soldier turned fur trapper in the Rockies.
Natives instruct him in survival, and he does well.
Until he incurs the wrath of the Crow tribe and deadly conflicts become routine.
Most of the film is Johnson’s middle years, peaceful homestead soon bathed in blood.
The tone is restrained, despite numerous battles.
Photography is sublime throughout.

Hedwig And The Angry Inch - 2001 - 7/10

Cautionary tale of gender reassignment gone wrong.
Betrayed in love (several times) Hedwig chases a more famous ex, while performing with her glam band at whatever venues they can scrounge up.
To reveal more is unnecessary spoilage.
The convoluted tale is funny and sad, rage and acceptance.
Loaded with catchy music numbers.
I saw this in an almost empty movie house. Later, during a live show, I sat next to the car wash attendee.

O J: Made In America - 2016 - 8/10

ALERT - This is the 5 part documentary - NOT the Hollywoodized mini-series, The People v. O.J. Simpson.

Outstanding documentary of the rise, fall, ultimately bizarre demise of charismatic O J Simpson.
From impoverished childhood, to college glory with USC Trojans, NFL achievements, forays into film.

Then murders and subsequent trials. Numerous details I knew nothing about (eg: wife #1, Marcus …).
E04 is particularly good at displaying the defense team strategy and tag team approach.
E05 reveals the shadowy years between the civil trial and the Las Vegas lunacy.
Unresolved American issues of race, class, wealth are dispassionately exposed.
Well researched, thorough, extensive - often painful - interviews, balanced and seemingly fair.

One is left with the disquieting feeling of having witnessed
“privileged justice” followed years later with “payback justice.”
Neither casts the judicial system in an honorable light.