Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Uncertainty - 2009 - 4/10

A young couple (Lynn Collins & Joseph Gordon-Levitt) stand in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, trying to make a big decision.
The guy flips a coin ... they run off in opposite directions into parallel stories, with each other!
One is the dreaded meal with the girl's family in Brooklyn, the other is running from Russian mobsters in Manhattan.
Unappealing movie, because the characters behave stupidly, making fool decisions even tourists would not.
I'd say "avoid" this one, only it was hard enough for me to find.  
Makes me wonder how indie flicks make money. They never screen in theatres. Rental outlets are toast.
How do these films turn a profit for investors?

[Vultural]

X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Films Of All Time - 2015 - 6/10

Chronological sweep of adult features.  Opens with Deep Throat, closes with Star Wars XXX.
Luckily, or sadly, I have watched both, and many of the movies in between.
Doc runs 95“, and each film gets a little over five minutes.  30 - 35 films showcased.
Directors interviewed, porn stars, as well as choice clips.
Again, these are porn features.  Those with bare plots.  Not the spray revue.
Tone is - “Oh what a fun time we had!” glossing over any unpleasantness.
Useful checklist for fans looking to fill gaps in their viewing bucket list.
Do not skip the closing credits.

[Vultural]

Love & Mercy - 2015 - 8/10

Resisted this for a very long time.
I am very familiar with the Beach Boys, particularly Brian Wilson’s story.
Glossing or fabricating on the filmmakers part would ruin this for me.

A few quibbles aside, this is highly recommended to Wilson fans, and generally recommended to casuals.
Paul Dano portrays Brian at his creative zenith, while John Cusack’s Wilson is caught, not in the lowest point, but certainly in a career trench.
Dano very good as young Brian, innocent, ebullient, full of uncontrolled ideas.
Cusack has the tougher road as he does not resemble Brian, yet he does not fall into the cheap actor’s trick of impersonation.  Hairstyle or Wilson’s sidespeech.  Cusack works marvels with mannerisms.
Basic tale of collapse and later resurrection is smartly told, if somewhat disingenuous.
Outstanding use of colours and clothing to evoke time and convey subliminal messages.
The two docs on this are helpful.

First problem - Dr Landy.  Yes, a despicable, self-serving cad, and yet, he did get Brian out of bed, got him to exercise, eat better, lose weight.  He also pushed him into the studio to craft a great album.
(Rolling Stone published an insightful article in their August 11, 1988 issue.)
No reference whatsoever to the “drainers” as Marilyn (wife #1) called them.
The spongers and hangers on who were human parasites.
No reference to Diane Rovell, Marilyn’s sister.  Both were in Wilson produced groups, The Honeys and Spring.  

Another problem - The band’s discomfort with “Pet Sounds”.  As if they did not understand it.  Fact is, Brian used crack musicians and the band knew the songs would be difficult to perform live.  (Note - they later learned.)
This dovetails into the “Smile” sessions where Mike Love lobbied hard to return to the old cars, girls and surf formula, which was already passe.
In 1967 music was exploding.  Filmmakers, instead of playing Dusty Springfield song, should have selected The Doors, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Hendrix, to name a few, to show just how out of touch Mike Love was, and how Brian, following his own muse, was more cued in.

Another quibble.  Although the movie flashbacks on the early Beach Boy ascent, the subsequent years are not shown.  The band continued, with and without Brian, to release well received albums for another decade.

As noted, these are nitpicks, and the casual Beach Boys fan couldn’t care less.  Moreover, hardcore fans - of any musician, poet, writer, actor, artist, chef - are often obsessive and strange.

[Vultural]

The Zombie Walks - 1968 - 5/10
AKA - Im Banne des Unheimlichen

Movie opens during church funeral as pallbearers hoist the coffin.
Whereupon gales of laughter issue from the oblong box.
Does anyone investigate?  Heck no, they’re British, avoid embarrassment at all costs.
They seal the stiff in the crypt and head to the pub.
Krimi based on Edgar Wallace book is a campy spoof the of genre, as well as Gothic potboilers.

Sure enough, soon as folks wonder if the corpse ain’t dead a skull faced fiend starts killin’.
The movie blasts along with murders, chases, blondes, and dozens of suspects.
Even during simple interviews, filmmakers toss in crazy sets and visuals to distract you.

Though “set” in England, with Lords, Rolls Royces, Scotland Yard, this is a German production all the way.
Not the best krimi.  A nutty film for aficionados of odd.

[Vultural]

Perrier's Bounty - 2009 - 7/10

Exceedingly black Irish comedy.
Two mob soldiers wake up Michael (by spitting pistachio shells at him) and remind him he has only a few hours to repay a financial obligation to their boss.
Burglary, beatings, gunplay follow as Michael's predicament tailspins from bad to worse.
His estranged father appears, and his depressed female neighbor proves trigger happy.
A great shaggy dog film. Everyone who sat with me laughed out loud.
Starring Cillian Murphy, Jim Broadbent, Jodie Whittaker, Liam Cunningham.
And let's not forget the dogs: Achilles and Apollo!

[Vultural]

The Shallows - 2016 - 7/10

Darned good shark chomper.  (I live with shark fans so I get force-fed shark films a lot.)
Surfer girl makes her way to very obscure beach in Mexico.  Friends bailed, so she is alone.
Even though she meets a pair of other surfers, she watches them depart so she can get one last ride.
Then the shark arrives, and hers becomes a battle for survival.
And don’t assume ole sharky will let her catch a wave to shore.  No way.
Slow buildup leads to a nail biter the rest of the way.
The ending seems to have one scene too many.
Gorgeous photography.

[Vultural]

Horrors Of Spider Island - 1960 - 3/10
AKA - Ein Toter hing im Netz

Crap-o-rama alert!
Eight showgirls fly from Manhattan to Shanghai.
Enroute, seas turn choppy and their plane crashes.  Don’t even ask.
After days adrift, they spy an isle (that looks exactly like Gilligan’s island) and paddle to safety.
Still wearing dresses, makeup, and pearls, they find a cabin, stocked with food!
And a grizzled prospector, caught in a gigantic spider web.  Dead, meaning D-E-D.
So what happens?  What do you think happens?
One by one they get killed, yet still find time to go swimming naked.
Legendary bad film.  Dubbing is atrocious.  Shambles courtesy West Germany.

[Vultural]

Tokyo Fiancée - 2014 - 6/10

20 year old Belgium girl moves to Tokyo and offers to teach French lessons.
She gets one client, a male her own age, who seems to speak French passably well.
Nonetheless, money is money and they meet weekly.
Sparks don’t exactly fly as both seem to suffer cultural misperceptions of each other.
He introduces her to friends as his fiancée, she is convinced he is Yakuza.
Story winds in unpredictable directions and often deadends.
Several scenes were, perhaps, symbolic, except I was unable to parse meaning.

[Vultural]

Shakespeare On Stage, Screen And Elsewhere - 2016 - 6/10

Part of 2016‘s Shakespeare Lives celebration across Britain.
I thought this would be a film survey, but it is actually a lecture by Ian McKellen.
Personal memoir, anecdotes of productions, bios of bygone actors.
As well as the conspiracy theory of questionable authorship - which McKellen does not subscribe to.
Knowledgeable audience had apparently seen many of the lesser known works.
McKellen, a cheerful raconteur, frequently pauses to find his thought.
Impatient or multi-tasked souls may glance at the exits.

[Vultural]

Fantastic Mister Fox - 2009 - 7/10

Fox "settled down" after he and the missus nearly died one night at the chicken farm.
Writes for the village paper (that no one reads), has angry teenage son, and a wife who holds him to his promise of no more stealing.
As a reformed character, however, he is dissatisfied, and longs for one final heist.
Three stages - three farms - three farmers.
One farmer, in particular, is diabolically clever.
Powerhouse voice cast: George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, Willum Dafoe, Michael Gambon, Jason Schwartzman.
Based on Roald Dahl's book.

[Vultural]

Straight Outta Compton - 2016 - 7/10

Rousing biopic of badboy rappers, N.W.A.
Standard tale of friends forming a band, hitting the big time, then the money fights.
Focus is on Eazy, Cube and Dre, and the latter seems to have been smoothed a shade.
Not too many liberties taken, though my knowledge is basic at best.
I checked for inaccuracies later and found minor, aside from Heller’s litany.
Should appeal to the mainstream despite expletives, weed use, nudity, coochie poppin ...
By a quirk of casting, Paul Giamatti plays NWA’s shifty manager.  Soon as I saw him I hollered,  “Look out guys!  That’s Dr Landy.  He fleeced Brian.  Look out!”
Oddly enough, I found myself giving footnotes to innocents around me.  “What does OG mean?”  “Who is Suge Knight?”
I watched the extended cut, almost three hours, and it never dragged.

[Vultural]

Pieces - 1983 - 6/10

Gory thriller that navigates between Giallo and Slasher.
Opening has dear mom watching her son work a jigsaw puzzle.  Of a nude model.
Mom wrecks his puzzle and junior finds a nearby axe.
Decades later, an unseen, gloved stalker starts solving that nudie puzzle.
By chopping up a bevy of college beauties.
Mounting body count of Euro lovelies baffles police!
Though set in Boston, filmed in Madrid.

There is a valuable audio commentary with Jack Taylor.
Most of the discussion is not about this film, but rather Jess Franco, with whom Taylor made eight films.
For Franco fans, this will be great.

[Vultural]

The Devil’s Double - 2011 - 7/10

Soldier gets coerced into becoming Uday Hussein’s (Saddam’s eldest son) body double.
Bit of cosmetic surgery, teeth implant, behaviour training and voilà!
Soon the poor sap is viewing torture, rapes and dodging assassination attempts.
Dominic Cooper quite good as both flamboyant, maniacal Uday, and the more subdued Latif.
Filmmakers wisely chose to craft this as a full bore gangster saga.
Shootings, a gory evisceration, substance abuse, rampant sex, all during the tine of Gulf War 1991.
Opulent looking production, though docs reveal many of the visual tricks used.

[Vultural]

Mau Mau Sex Sex - 2001 - 5/10

Promising title proves more come-on and tease instead of meat, or at least scented petals.
Documentary of exploitation filmmakers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney.
History is quickly sketched, with a fistful of obscure film clips.
Half the doc follows the then-retired gents, both in their 80s.
Dining in the restaurant, puttering in the house, strolling the carnival.
Now RIP, they come across as likeable old farts (meant nicely).
I’ve probably watched a half dozen of their films;  I recall as cheap and silly.
Nudie cuties, roughies, swept away as tastes shifted to raunchy XXX.

[Vultural]

You Don't Know Jack - 2010 - 7/10

Al Pacino quite good as Jack Kevorkian, US physician who assisted 120 suicides.
With Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Danny Huston, and ... if you are over 40 ... Brenda Vaccaro.
By turns funny, provocative, infuriating, sad.
Includes 10 minute documentary with cast & Dr. Kevorkian himself.
If I got a debilitating, agonizing disease I would want an exit option.
Might not take it, but I would want it available.
Overlong at 2 hours 14 minutes.

[Vultural]

A Bigger Splash - 2015 - 7/10

Deliciously unpleasant story of pop idol secluding herself on remote Pantelleria after vocal surgery.
Intruders arrive.  Her ex (manager/lover/producer) with his sullen daughter.

Ralph Fiennes excels as hyper-kinetic, limelight hogging noise unit.
High energy, passive aggressive, pushy, sarcastic, manipulative, utterly toxic.
One of those souls who demand the spotlight, even though his gifts are minimal.
Fiennes character unsettles everyone.  His relationship with his daughter is uncomfortably cozy.
One wonders why the “normal” individuals endure him, though that is obliquely explained.
Warning, characters throughout are trolls or door mats.
Though not written by her, material evocative of Patricia Highsmith novels.

[Vultural]

Without Warning - 1952 - 6/10

Blonde bar-crawlers are being stalked by a serial killer.
Stabbed to death with scissors like weapon.
Labeled Noir, but it falls into the thriller / police procedural category.
We see the killer early on, a social misfit and a loner.
Then an omniscient voice follows from one department to another of crack Los Angeles police.
Prints, fabric analysis, head shrinker (profiler not a term yet).
Predictable, though one wonders how high the body count will rise.
Most of the women have bad Phyllis Dietrichson hairdos.

[Vultural]

Train To Busan - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - Busanhaeng / 부 산 행

Zombies pack a high speed train!
I mean, really, do you need to know more?
Cities are over run with ravenous dead.
Surviving passengers must fight their way to forward compartments.
Zombies are of the sprinter variety and only eat “live” meat, not zombie meat.
Unlike similar train flick Snowpiercer which I jeered, I liked this better.

[Vultural]

La Fille Coupée en Deux - 2007 - 6/10
AKA - The Girl Cut In Two

Girl in question is local weathergirl chased by aged roué and young wastrel.
In the best ménage à trois traditions, the female attempts to navigate both males.
The provincial town is rather small, however.
The older man, a writer, frequents a sybaritic den with other dissolutes.
The younger man is spoiled, insecure, prone to violence.
Talky (as expected), laced with bedroom politics and petty rivalries.

Note - I braced myself for another French talk-o-drama.
During opening credits, I announced aloud,
“Look, Mathilda May!”
“Who’s that?”  asked one of the girls.
“Brilliant thespian,”  I said.  “She starred in the classic Lifeforce.”
“Oh?  Any good?”
 “Unforgettable.”

[Vultural]

A Wicked Woman - 1958 - 6/10
AKA - Dokufu Takahashi Oden  /  Poisonous Woman / 高橋 お伝

Busy account of very lively girl, Oden.
After shoplifting a jewelry store, she is “apprehended” by a young policeman.
She begs him to let her rest at her home before going to the station.
At home, she enfolds him with the sticky petals and seduces him.
An official perceives her character and forces her into becoming both mistress and procurer for his slave trade.
Oh yes, she also has two husbands tucked away.
All in the first 30 minutes!  Long takes make film feel slow at times, though.
Based - believe it or not - on a true individual.