Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

I Love A Mystery - 1945 - 6/10

Decent Columbia B-flick, based on popular radio show.
Wealthy husband has been told - no, prophesied to - he would die after a year.
Well, times up, big boy!
His wife becomes an invalid, a weird melody haunts him, a mysterious dame hooks up with him at the Russian Samovar club, he is pursued by a pegleg, death attempts, the secret society of Barokan!
This is the opening ten minutes!
I recognized many character actors, but the only real face was George Macready.
Hold on, keep up, and brace for twists.

[Vultural]

Linkeroever - 2008 - 6/10
AKA - Left Bank

Borderline for me, this.  Well worn tropes, but handsomely presented.
As runner Marie prepares for upcoming world championships, she meets the archery ace.
The attraction is mutual and carnal athletics all but immediate.
Her fortunes start to sour, however, after she moves into his posh high rise abode.
Over on the left bank, the side of the river said to be cursed, haunted.
Moreover, whispers of the upcoming Samhain festivities mean little to her, nor do her physical afflictions.
First half is a character study, sure to annoy goreboys, though abundant nudity and fluid swapping will hold their interest.
There is a lack of internal logic in the narrative, and Marie's deficient feminine intuition is hard to believe.
Too bad.  This little seen Belgium horror flick deserves a wider audience.

[Vultural]

Blonde Crazy - 1931 - 6/10

Jimmy Cagney hooks up with Joan Blondell, and they move from the small burg to a great midwest city to New York.
Plying the old badger game on rich fools, easily distracted by rolled stockings and perfume.
Cagney plays his usual brash, lecherous male, leering at a bevy of bottled blondes.
Cynical tone undercuts the comedy, and the romance angles are guarded on all sides.
At its heart, a grim journey as stakes and consequences mount with each outing.

[Vultural]

Conte d'Automne - 1998 - 8/10
AKA - Autumn Tale

Possibly my favorite of all Éric Rohmer films.
Well meaning Isabelle decides to matchmake for friend, Magali, a 45 year old widow.
Isabelle places an advert, then interviews respondents.
From there, a series of misinterpretations and miscommunications ensue.
Magali is a wine grower and much of the photography details her lush vineyards or the small village.
Autumn refers to the season and age of the characters.
A multi-layered story of loneliness, diverting trajectories, emotional messiness, and hope.
For those who believe older adults still have a second chance.

[Vultural]

Joanna - 1968 - 5/10

Swinging London flick, very time and place centered.
Young girl (late teens) arrives in London, ostensibly to pursue arts classes, instead to revel in the loose Mod morals and laissez-faire life.  Meaning, bang a lot of rich or artistic blokes.  Luv em and leave em.
While Joanna comes across as gullible or foolish, she is neither.
She lacks purpose and has few values.  Momentary pleasures suffice ... for a time.
Gaudy 60s piece is awash in excessive makeup, flamboyant fashions, and London exteriors.
Narrative chronology bops with flashbacks and dream sequences, jarring at first.
Music by Rod McKuen, one number by Scott Walker.
Dated novelty at this point, perhaps when it was released.
A lot was going on in '68, and this seems a frothy throwback.
Donald Sutherland terrific as young lord, seizing the last rays.

[Vultural]

The Architecture Of Doom - 1989 - 6/10

Curious documentary of the Third Reich dominated by artistic and aesthetic components.
How many of the party leaders were unsuccessful writers, poets, painters, etc ...
The aim of the Party was to rebuild the nation on a vast scale.
Major exhibitions were shown of idealistic representative art and massive civic improvements.
Second half switches from city layouts to body perfection.  Eugenics.
Which leads to the systematic obliteration of "flawed humanity" via extermination camps.
I cannot say I concur with many of the arguments as presented, yet the take is provocative.
No mention, by the way, of Lebensraum.
No talking heads, just dry narration.  Outstanding visuals.
Difficult to make up my mind about this.  Need to rewatch.

[Vultural]

Belinda et Moi - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Belinda And Me

Older woman's partner dies and their piano cafe closes, the lease expires.
She intends to move out, but what to do about the piano?
Oh!  Give to Jean, the nephew, promising student, and angelic little boy.
Jean arrives, employment skills limited to after hours park work, poor cosmetic technique.
And he prefers to be called Belinda.

Once unconventional subject is becoming mainstream.  No edge here.
That said, the narrative stays fresh with plot shifts, unexpected characters.
Belinda is not a sympathetic soul, but one roots for her after awhile.
OK French TV film.

[Vultural]

The Ritual - 2017 - 5/10

Five mates plan their annual travel excursion.
Oops, make that four following an early tragedy.
Soft city lads, they opt for a stiff hike through Sweden's wilderness.
Photography is moody, stark, disorienting.  The guys are equally moody, dense and confused.
Prime example:  "If we take a shortcut through the woods we can save time."
No no no!  Do not take shortcuts, especially if your knowledge of outdoors is zilch.
Mistakes mount, compound, and you realize these unsympathetic louts are too dim to care about.
The plot staggers into lore territory, and that feels shoe-horned.  Kitchen sink mentality.
Disappointing adaptation of Adam Nevill's book.

[Vultural]

The Belko Experiment - 2016 - 5/10

High rise office locks down and the omniscient voice orders employees to start killing.
Or else the chip in your neck will -- Kabang!
Deadlines are given, as well as body count targets.
Fine characterizations with villains you loathe, ethical negotiators, faceless expendables.
Story itself is derivative and predictable.
As with countless other survivor films, There Can Be Only One.
These office drones never figure that out.

[Vultural]

Trois Femmes en Colere - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - 3 Angry Women

Well, not necessarily that angry.
Grandma, a feminist firebrand in the 60s, realizes the young generation does not care, has no will to struggle, and that she and her sisters fought for ... for what?
In one way, she has outlived her time, in another, she carries an unpleasant ghost of an earlier time.
Femme number two is her daughter, snared in an "open marriage."
Meaning, husband can cheat at will.  Yet if she does ...
Femme number three is the granddaughter, medical student, whose boyfriend wants her to be his support, rather than an equal partner.
OK enough concepts.  The males are not necessarily despicable or domineering.  They merely take advantage and exploit their fortune.

[Vultural]

The Grand Seduction - 2013 - 6/10

Charming narrative of lies here.
Tiny fishing harbor in Canada is dying.  No money from fishing, folks leaving for the city.
They are in the running for a petrochemical processing factory, however, if they can get a resident doctor.
A big city doctor is shanghaied in, then the web of deceit spins.
By turns laugh out funny, then sadly amusing, almost depressing.
Those who have witnessed the death of their childhood home will relate.
Distaff cousin of The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain , without Mr Grant.

[Vultural]

A Dark Song - 2016 - 6/10

Grieving mother hires ... occult specialist to help her contact her deceased child.
Lengthy setup as proper location is found, supplies stored, preparations begun.
Pace of this will vex the impatient.
This is about the ritual, the process, the incantation.
Exterior photography is spectacular and forbidding, while the house seems a character in itself.
Events begin to go awry, and you realize mother and interlocutor each have unspoken agendas.
For the more knowledgeable, the ritual in question had been attempted by Alleister Crowley.

[Vultural]

Until Death - 1987 - 6/10
AKA - Per Sempre

Rainy night, a struggling husband is buried alive by his young, pregnant wife and her lover.
Six years later, the couple are still together, but their relationship is rocky, and the man has no use for the wife's needy son
Another stormy night, and the drifter appears, seeking shelter.
Soon enough, he assists the wife in her cafe and befriends the child.
Italian TV movie boasts inventive camera work and the luscious Gioia Scola, but the script, despite trying to keep the viewer guessing, treads familiar territory.
Some of the son's nightmares are memorable, hands clawing through plastered walls for one.
Not bad, but not great, either.

[Vultural]

LEcole de la Chair - 1998 - 6/10
AKA - The School Of Flesh

Bored rich female initiates an affair with surly rent boy.
Beforehand, she had been warned by several of his ex-lovers / victims.
Challenge or self destruction?
Following the initial docking maneuver, they play games and test each others boundaries.
The plot, or what masquerades as a plot, are cobbled together set pieces.
Likewise the assembly of supporting characters, though some are more memorable.
Despite the occasional twist, interlude in the bazaar, and raw emotions, from the very beginning, one realizes this is not the happy ending love story.
French, not too talky, though there is quite a bit of dialogue.

[Vultural]

Hitchhikers - 2015 - Not Rated

Drifters and thumb waving travelers catch a ride ... with a catch.
They have to share their stories.  Who they are, where they are from, how did they get that way.
Half hour one-off was a proposed pitch for reality series that was never picked up.
Too bad.  It is more imaginative and less padded than the majority of cable time wasters.

Several people, myself included, from the FanEdit community helped or advised Wayne while he was crafting this.
Neglify edited the raw footage, many previewed, I wrote up a hundred questions Wayne could ask riders on subsequent episodes.
Everyone offered suggestions.  From the small maps, subtitles for the mush-mouthed or road noise, to the female VO narrator (I believe she was Wayne's girlfriend).
I don't know how much Wayne spent.  It was all his dime, but we were dead certain it would get picked up.
Except it didn't.
Like I wrote, this show was creative and I think there would have been an audience.
Enough time has passed now, I don't think Wayne will mind me posting it.

 

[Vultural]

Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? - 1966 - 6/10
AKA - Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?

Brittle satire of haute couture of the mid 60s.
The poses, impossible materials, sniffy (snippy) reviewers.
By turns laugh out loud funny, then maddeningly tedious.
Trendy fashion model Polly is interviewed, then her banal life fact-checked.
Truth to tell, she is neither compelling nor thoughtful.
Vacuous character, example where God placed all her gifts on the outside, nothing within.
Will not be for all tastes.
I watched with fashion hounds who provided a running commentary throughout.

 

[Vultural]

The Man Who Invented Christmas - 2017 - 6/10

Fabricated confection imagines how Charles Dickens came to write "A Christmas Carol."
Stray facts mixed with literary license and a heavy dollop of treacle.
Dickens' marriage is still rather happy at this time, though his wife's fecundity causes financial strain.
A couple literary flops does not help matters, either.
The film effectively shows how writers file away stray comments, interesting events, details.
Other elements are eye rolling fluff.
Not necessarily a holiday movie, it is definitely feel good material.
Christopher Plummer is a sardonic Scrooge.  Dan Stevens tolerable as Dickens.

[Vultural]

The Void - 2016 - 6/10

Horror flick explodes out the door (literally) and the pace and tension seldom let up from there.
Local cop picks up tweaker tumbling from nearby woods, races to the hospital.
The hospital is closing (most of it has relocated) so staff is slim and supplies low.
Oh, and it appears no one paid those derned power bills cause the lights start to flicker ...
just as a pack of white robed, knife carrying spooks surround the place.
There are about ten characters who separate out - what is the matter with them! - and often the peril to each interweaves back n forth.
This is basically a revved up drive-in beast, with a ton of imagination and scenes to burn.
Despite budget limitations, and a couple WTF moments, this is a fairly ripping ride.

[Vultural]

Marrowbone - 2017 - 6/10

Family flees England for the States under mysterious circumstances.
They spend a memorable summer, but Mom, already ill, succumbs with the fall.
Ever so gradually, the mystery is teased out until you wonder if the children actually escaped.
As you realize the dilapidated house may well be haunted, or their pursuer has caught them.
While this has a timeless look, the time seems 1950s (judging from cars and clothes).
Film is overlong and feels it.  Acting is fine, characters are not compelling, however.

[Vultural]

Polina - 2016 - 7/10
AKA - Polina, Danser sa Vie

Young Polina (I'd guess eight or nine) passes the enrollment tryouts for prestigious training school.
Her home life mixes with rigorous teachings until she auditions with the Bolshoi.
At this point, the story, which was following a predictable path, takes the unforeseen turn.
Polina starts a "personal" journey into unknown territory which puts her into conflicts.
For dance enthusiasts, this goes beyond the typical suffering for art reruns.
Great dance sequences, a broad display of styles, and a rich range of influences.
Juliette Binoche, who has no formal dance training, does an impressive turn as choreographer / dancer.