Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

The Galaxy Britain Built - 2017 - 7/10

Christmas cracker tossed out to younglings and sithsters across our system.
As Star Wars turns 40, this documentary examines the British contribution.
The sets, Elstree Studios, props, costumes ...
Aging participants reflect on the tight time schedule, meager budget, and the attitude of "this is a comic book!"
Some of this draws from earlier documentaries, other elements were new to me.
Scenes from ESB are shown, followed by a progression to Rogue One.
One has the feeling this might be the last hurrah for many of the interviewees.

[Vultural]

La Fille Inconnue - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - The Unknown Girl

After a long day, female doctor and intern prepare to close the office for the night.
They ignore the door buzzer of a much-too-late caller.
Next day, police arrive, examine surveillance footage, then tell the doctor the young girl - who had perhaps been seeking refuge - had been murdered after fleeing from the clinic door.
Guilt then drives the doctor.  To find out who the dead girl was, why she was running, from what.
Thriller suffers from detached presentation.
My (admittedly) limited empathy never engaged and I never cared about a single character.

[Vultural]

Die Frau, Nach Der Man Sich Sehnt - 1929 - 6/10
AKA - The Woman Men Yearn For // Three Loves

Young heir to powerful industrialist embarks on his honeymoon.
One the night train, his wife slides into the sheets and eagerly awaits locomotive revels.
While out in the corridor, the heir spies Stascha, a damsel in distress.
What to do?  Oh - Stascha is played by a young Marlene Dietrich.
He dumps his bride, halts the train, dashes across snowy woodlands, into a posh resort.
Story of naive swell getting embroiled with a shady couple.
Borders on melodrama, but the camera work is fluid and often ingenious.
Rollicking New Years Eve party is a highlight.  Must for Dietrich aficionados.

Note - I've watched this Silent with with two different soundtracks.  Orchestral and piano.
Neither seemed to enhance the proceedings.  Better luck.

[Vultural]

Crooked House - 2017 - 6/10

Stylish adaptation of the Agatha Christie murder mystery.
Ostracized private detective is approached by his old flame to investigate her family.
She suspects grandpapa was poisoned.
Family being wealthy and politically influential, police are hesitant to delve.
Once inside the suffocating manor, the detective realizes he is in a viper pit.
The beholden heirs hated or resented grandpapa, almost as much as they loathe each other and themselves.
Everyone, it transpires, is suspect.  Everyone.

[Vultural]

Les Saveurs du Palais  - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Haute Cuisine

Film crew arrives in Antarctica, looking for "a story."
During lunch, they realize the ordinary staff enjoy incredible gourmet fare.
Because, once upon a time, the camp cook had been personal chef for the French President.
How did the petite female transition from Parisian opulence to the polar wastes?
Seasoned souls should anticipate images of extraordinary food, priced accordingly.

[Vultural]

Suburra - 2015 - 7/10

Explosive, high voltage crime drama sprawling across a week in gaudy, glitzy Roma.
The opening 30-40 minutes is a tour de force of gorgeous visuals and minimal dialogue.
Characters and situations are propelled across the screen, in one instance literally.
Afterward, the tempo settles - to a degree - as a powerful intermediary tries to broker temporary peace between several layers of combatants.
A big deal is imminent, huge for leading families, but timing is delicate.
No matter.  Tempers fiery hot and colder than ice demand red stained honor.
Superb cinematography, detailed interlocking narratives, make for a great adult flick.
Sex - nudity - language - streams of blood.   γνῶθι σεαυτόν

[Vultural]

L'année Des Méduses - 1984 - 6/10
AKA - Year Of The Jellyfish

Beach story of young girl (from sixteen to eighteen) learning bedroom games.
She is attracted to an older male, a cross between pimp and gigolo.
To her annoyance, he finds her mother more alluring.
The girl hones her seduction technique on others, from cynical jades to unwary innocents.
When injuries occur, too bad.
Cynical narrative of souls lacking moral compass.
An unexpected and, for me, enjoyable surprise, is the score, which seems lifted from a period Slasher film.
Menacing, descending scales and staccato reveals!  Out of place, yet rather amusing.

Viewer alert - Most of the proceedings transpire on a class conscious nude beach.
Brace for generous displays of full frontal nudity.

[Vultural]

5-Headed Shark Attack - 2017 - 4/10

Every time I think the girls have tired of shark flicks, another finned loser appears.
True love, I suppose, never dies.
Anyway, a multi-mouthed shark rears its heads off Puerto Rican shores (clearly before Hurricane Maria and the massive restoration projects launched by the Donald Administration).
Local cops seek guidance from folks who run the big aquarium that is foundering financially.
The insatiable shark chomps other sharks, tasty humans, even a whale!
Not as asinine or cynical as the Sharknado franchise, yet this is still crap.
Early in the story, when two-legged meals (aquarium staff) climbed onboard, I commented about a member.
"Back in 80s Slasher films, that person would be victim Numero Uno.  By the PC mid-90s, that person would be untouched.  Nowadays, no idea."
Thirty seconds later, that person was Unhappy Meal #1.  No PC guidelines in this winner.

[Vultural]

Bamboo House Of Dolls - 1973 - 5/10
AKA - Nu ji Zhong Ying  //

Wonderful exploitation sleaze from the Shaw Brothers.
Japanese troops attack a hospital, murder most of the patients, drag all the attractive nurses, kicking and screaming, to an internment camp.
Viewers familiar with the WiP genre can predict the following:
Rapes, beatings, tortures, a lesbian commandant, prison catfights, stoolies, and wardrobe limitations.
Indeed, all prisoners wear flimsy blue tops and skimpy blue panties.
Those outfits are shredded or ripped off every five minutes, exposing huge swathes of gratuitous nudity.
Subplots involve hidden gold and spies.
Compared with other WiP fare, this is on a par with the Ilsa series.

[Vultural]

Ma vie en l'Air - 2005 - 7/10
AKA - My Life In The Air

Offbeat French romantic comedy.
At a party, a man meets his "soul mate."
Within a few months, however, she is off to Asia for at least a year.
He could visit any time, except he has a phobia of flying.
Oh yes, he works as an evaluator in a flight simulator.
His slob of a best friend moves in with him, and our man dates a dizzying array of females.
None are really right, they are just right now.
Predictable at times, with the unexpected striking from nowhere.

[Vultural]

The Miniaturist - 2017 - 6/10

Young bride moves into her wealthy husband's home in 17th century Amsterdam.
Along with queen of the household, his sister.
The home is a dark cavern of shadows and secrets, and the bride is out of her depth.
For a wedding gift, she receives a large doll house.
As miniature furnishings, dolls, accessories arrive - unordered - mysteries surface.
Stylish costumer that feels unfinished.  Revelations lack punch.
Viewers with knowledge of The Eighty Years War (of which I am not) might appreciate the military and politician details that fill the story.

[Vultural]

Russia's Lost Princesses - 2014 - 6/10

Two part documentary on the overlooked Romanovs.
Not the doomed, dim-witted Nicholas, the hysterical Alexandria, or Alexei, the bleeder.
No, OTMA, or Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.
This gives a decent telling of the fraying Romanov dynasty, the dual cataclysms of World War I and the Russian Revolution, and the cancer that was Rasputin.
Aside from the usual talking heads, narration is supported with diary entries, photos of the girls, and home movies.
Thing is - in two hours presentation, only about 27 minute seems specific to the daughters, and their cloistered upbringing.

[Vultural]

The Villainess - 2017 - 5/10

The opening barrage of this S Korean actioner is straight out of a shooter game.
An army of thugs, assailants, scientists, get blasted n sliced.  Our p.o.v. charges down hallways, into rooms.
After an 8" adrenaline rush, the scene, and our character, shifts to a laboratory inside an assassin training ground.
Viewers who saw La Femme Nikita or remakes Point Of no Return and Black Cat, or TV knockoffs Nikita or Little Girl K will recognize this heavily used concept.
All that's needed is a tired middle section with a love interest, maybe a child - - No way!  Check both!
The action sequences are impressive, if overlong, and seem more mechanically chop socky than wushu.
Also, Ok-bin Kim lacks the oomph to carry the film.
Nevertheless, for viewers unacquainted with earlier films who hunger for fighting, this'll be OK.

[Vultural]

Victoria & Abdul - 2017 - 6/10

Late in life, the Queen of England strikes up a friendship with a visiting Indian, Abdul Karim.
He presents the token gift during her Golden Jubilee, their eyes meet, the connection forms!
Their relationship is high lit, supporting players are sketchy, motivations unclear.
The ensuing scandal based on class, racism, and ageism is downplayed.
Interesting historical footnote, relished by Victorian enthusiasts, perhaps marginal to others.
As expected, costumes, sets and acting all top tier.  Outdoor photography oft times flat.  Story - fluff.
A better distillation of this story can be found within the 2014 documentary, Queen Victoria’s Letters.

[Vultural]

Moka - 2016 - 7/10

Early on, mother flees (escapes) from the clinic where she had been under observation.
Profound grief following the death of her son by a hit n run driver.
Remorse is not on her mind, however, retribution is.
Through a hired private detective, she "thinks" she has found the driver.
Her mind is made up, though for viewers the quarry is less clear.
A great deal of tension in this tale of grim resolve vs unsubstantiated assumptions.
Emmanuelle Devos excellent as the parent turned hunter.
In many ways a remake of 1969's Que la Bete Meure with less moral clarity.

[Vultural]

Past Malice: Emma Fielding - 2018 - 5/10

Famed archaeologist, Emma Fielding, is persuaded to double check a dig at New England castle.
She finds ongoing robberies, the family curse, nasty murders, and a handsome FBI agent!
In fact, everyone is pleasant looking, in a waxed fruit manner.
Another of those never ending movies, spinoffs, in the "Murder, She Wrote" mode.
Bland, predictable, almost smarmy.  Read a book instead.  Or send someone a Hallmark card.
Oh wait!  If you do that, you'll help fund another one of these Hallmark movies!

[Vultural]

Doriana Grey - 1976 - 5/10
AKA - Die Marquise von Sade

Odd arthouse / grindhouse movie from Jess Franco.
Ageless female aristocrat is interviewed by a woman's magazine reporter.
In between questions and answers, there are reveries, flashbacks, long strolls.
For location filming, Franco uses a castle or palace and the photography is beautiful.
One sees grounds and interiors while Doriana glides moodily, wearing a sheer, dark pink shift.
Her character has little to do with Dorian Gray, more with Poe's "William Wilson" incorporating elements of the vampiress or succubus.
Dreamlike narrative (very slow) is interspersed with hardcore sex scenes, indifferently shot.
Not the best intro to Franco's oeuvre, but fans of Lina Romay will enjoy her portrayal of twin sisters.

[Vultural]

Les Jeux Des Nuages et de la Pluie - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - Games of Clouds and Rain

Inter-related stories of broken love, betrayal and anger fuel this French drama.
A wife cheats on her husband - he hires an investigator - who becomes obsessed.
A husband refuses to give his ex custody of their child.  A faux mind reader sees into the spouse's future.
The stories connect, but do not interweave, and most of the action occurs during a rain soaked night.
None of these are wicked souls.  Some need air, others cling to a relationship that has become a corpse.
These are older adults making choices, perhaps for the last time, for future partners.
How people connect . . . or decide the object of their affection no longer deserves them.

[Vultural]

Not Of This Earth - 1957 - 6/10

Nifty drive-in horror from Roger Corman.
Large man in a suit, wearing sunglasses night and day, seeks blood transfusions.
He demands medical treatment, he hires a nurse, he stalks coeds, he befriends winos.
Sure enough, he is up to dodgy business.  Worse, reference the title, he is not of this earth!
Advance scout for an invasion from Davanna.
Decent story.  I appreciated that time is critical to the alien.  Consequently, he has no time to "case the planet" so he makes mistakes more out of ignorance than anything else.
Fine leads were hired, although "star" Paul Birch notoriously stormed off the set, declaring,  "I am an actor!"
One of Corman's better films, and could have been excellent if the director wasn't in such a hectic hurry.

[Vultural]

El Critico - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - The Film Critic

The plight of the film critic.  Forced to watch an unhealthy diet of pap, pretension, redundancy, stupidity.
No wonder our critic in this Argentina film is negative, cynical, and single.
He is being allowed to squat in his apartment which is being razed, and may soon be homeless.
Then he finds the perfect apartment!  Except a woman has beaten him to the lease.
What ensues, to his disgust, is attraction, squabbling, soaring violins, breathless kisses, running.
He is trapped as a romantic comedy cliché.
El Critico, a rather uncertain comedy, will be better suited to viewers who are familiar with the RomCom genre and the mandatory tropes.