Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Carrington - 1995 - 7/10

Biopic of Edwardian painter Carrington and her platonic relationship with author Lytton Strachey.
Set mostly in pastoral England, during the Great War and afterward.
Strachey and Carrington entice and embrace various male companions, seemingly to vent their own frustrated passions.
Unlike almost every “creative artist" film I have ever watched, the angst and toil not shown at all.
Emma Thompson, as Dora Carrington, is quite good in this.  Also, during the first half of the film, she manages the trick of resembling a twenty year old.  Sense And Sensibility was released the same year;  while she portrayed another twenty year old, there she looked like a matronly forty year old.
Jonathan Pryce as Strachey is brilliant.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Nemuri Kyôshirô: In The Spider’s Lair - 1968 - 7/10

In this next to the last installment, Nemuri returns to his childhood village, ever seeking his origins.
Nemuri was the bastard offspring of a raped Japanese female and Satanic / Christian missionary.
Most of the village has been emptied by the nearby castle, home to two disgraced offspring of the Shogun.
As is so often in these films, nobility is corrupt, lecherous, and monstrously evil.
Numerous sword fights and beddings of willing and unwilling females lead to a terrific battle finale.
Film has a great Spaghetti Western score, and the shot composition is impeccable.
Sword fights in this series are always something to behold.
Ichikawa amazing to watch.  This was shot months before he died from cancer.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Warm Bodies - 2014 - 6/10

To paraphrase the oft moaned female lament,
“He couldn’t keep it up.”
Zombie film as told from a detached, wry, dryly humorous soul.
Hmm, do zombies even have souls?
Pointedly funny, satirical contrast of disconnected vs dead.
Thirty minutes on, love enters and the edge wilts.
Movie turns romantic, then preachy.
For zombie gourmands, very few unhappy meals in this one.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Wanted - 2008 - 5/10

Stale actioner based on comic book.
James McAvoy, with support from bit players like Terence Stamp, Morgan Freeman, and some chick named Angie Jolie, plays office drone sucked into shadowy group called The Fraternity.  Group of assassins who have been operating for a thousand years, selecting kill targets based on the thread pattern from a weaving loom.
If elements sounds vaguely like The Matrix, brace yourself for an overload of “bullet time.”
Main character scuttles and whines throughout, many sequences were preposterous ( rats & wristwatches ), plot about as original as a stale taco.
Director Bekmambetov helmed Russian Night Watch, Day Watch, and recent Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  
Track record of cheese over creativity, let alone excellence.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Screaming Mimi - 1958 - 3/10

Bad movie alert >>> “Starring Anita Ekberg.”
Despite mostly bad reviews, what the hey, I loaded this up.
Early on, voluptuous Ekberg emerges from the surf and hurries to take a shower outside the shack.
Nearby is a mental institution, along with a handy escapee clutching a big ole knife.
Two screams later, she’s in the nuthouse herself, traumatized outta her unnecessary mind.
Inside, she falls under the analytical spell of a possessive psychiatrist.
Next thing, they’re both gone, and she’s gyrating her assets, along with chains and ropes, as an exotic dancer.

Anyway, murder and attempted murder bolster this trashy Noir.
Swear, I’m not making this up.
Still undecided?  The Red Norvo combo is the nightclub band, Gypsy Rose Lee is the owner.
Oh yeah, Miss Ekberg has a vicious Great Dane watchdog, but anyone can get past him if they softly recite the Gettysburg Address.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Istanbul - 1957 - 5/10

Disappointing yarn of smuggling and intrigue set in Turkey.
Weathered and world weary Errol Flynn does well as expat piloting shady flights.
Plot involved missing diamonds, murder, cops n collectors.  Nothing special.
Interesting supporting cast includes Nat King Cole, Werner Klemperer, and Thorin Thatcher.  Female lead much too young for Flynn - or everyone else in the movie.
Within two years Flynn would enjoy a major comeback and be shortlisted for Oscar nominations (The Sun Also Rises).
At this stage, however, he was still living on Zaca, his sailing yacht, on the run from tax collectors, acting in films in various ports of call.
I had small expectations storywise, but this was a Technicolor film, shot in exotic Istanbul.
Print was fuzzy and washed out.  Not a great flick, but would grade a point higher for a restored print.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

The Lady Vanishes - 2013 - 5/10

Glossy remake of the book, “The Wheel Spins,” on which Hitchcock based his 1938 classic.
Young flapper meets spinster on train through the Balkans.
When old woman disappears, and all passengers declare they never saw her, the girl starts to investigate.
This update supposedly far more faithful to the book.  No Nazis, just scandal and intrigue.
Nice costumes, and claustrophobic train compartments (even a library car), and enigmatic strangers.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by an extremely unsympathetic female lead.  Rude, entitled, selfish.
You just want someone, anyone, to eject her from the train.  Hopefully when it is on a bridge.  A high one.
Blame bad directing and a script too modern for this period piece.
Otherwise, passable wet afternoon film.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Eaux Profondus - 1981 - 6/10
AKA:  Deep Water

Classic French arthouse mystery thriller for the wine n cheese crowd.
Young trophy bride (Huppert) flirts and attracts numerous young swains.
Husband warns each of possible consequences.
Those who heed, flee.  Those who abide, however ...
Challenging in that the viewer never knows the relationship between husband and wife, or how much friends and neighbors (island of Jersey) turn a blind eye to.
Measured pace (for modern viewers, read slow) that delivers unexpected jolts.
Based on Patricia Highsmith (Ripley stories) novel.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Kiss Of The Damned - 2012 - 5/10

Another vampire spin.
Scriptwriter sent to Connecticut to work on Hollywood project.
Meets hot babe in the video rental store.  (Huh?)
He pursues, though she warns him repeatedly.
Safe sex ensues, meaning she is shackled to four poster with massive steel chains, and when she gets aroused her beast emerges.  Does he flee?  Of course not, he’s a writer.  He unshackles her (Huh?).  They bounce, she bites.  
In time, the usual coven of fangsters appear, elegant and wealthy, for off Broadway plays and cocktails.
Arthouse twaddle directed by Xan Cassavetes (John’s daughter), which violates numerous vampire rules:
Vampire seen in mirrors.  Drink of choice, synthetic blood.  Living prey, forest animals.  Latter example, possum.
Dark, moody film, with not enough time given to bloodthirsty, dysfunctional sister.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Belle - 2013 - 7/10

In the 1700‘s, naval officer / father drops off his half black daughter to high echelon parents.  The small girl is to be raised as proper English lady.
Straight off, I asked the person who loaded this one if it was based on story, script or true life.
Apparently, this was based on real life.
Plot ticks off British involvement in slave trade, as well as varying suitors for the grown lady’s well funded hand.
Rich production values and good cast.  Film also underplays most character reactions, a refreshing change from the current Americanizing of emotional behavior.
Couple of nice - if redundant - featurettes with the disc.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Lake Of Dracula - 1971 - 5/10

The Carpathian count bought lakefront property?
No no.  Muddled Japanese homage to Hammer films.
Apparently, several generations earlier, the count did a bit spawning with a Japanese female.  (Forget the notion of vampires being sterile).  Hundred years later, the bloodlust DNA emerged.
Slow going, predictable, cliched.  I kept studying 70s clothes, hairstyles, and interiors.  Clueless characters.
Truck arrived and unloaded the coffin into the house.  Two sisters observed uncomfortably, then went shopping!
Another incident, an unconscious girl was rushed to Emergency.  Almost drained of blood!  Doctors and nurses noticed two punctures on her neck, then decided,  “We will ask her about those when she wakes up.”

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

The Man You Loved To Hate - 1979 - 6/10

Dated, faded looking documentary on Erich Von Stroheim.
Fleshes out the legendary silent director - turned villainous movie actor - eventual emigree to France.
Usual clips from Foolish Wives, Greed, Grand Illusion, Sunset Blvd.
Also unexpected clippings from his childhood and apprenticeship to D W Griffith.
Youthful details are murky as Strojeim more or less reinvented his past once he came to America.
Feuds with studio execs, spiraling production costs, impossible film lengths, risqué material, all elaborated on.  
Surprising, to me, how many French films he acted in before Sunset and after.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Dancing Outlaw - 1991 - 7/10

The documentary that made Jesco White famous.
Thirty minutes showcasing mountain step dancing, Elvis worship,
murder, fried eggs, Freebird, burning up your damn car, guilt.
Filmed in Boone County, West Virginia, forgotten crannie of the American Dream.
This is about as authentic as they come.  I've been in this neck of Appalachia hundreds of times.
Fame and exploitation, soon followed, along with groupies and tattoos.
The sequels are fun, but this is the genuine article.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

I'm From Hollywood - 1989 - 7/10

Terrific documentary / satire / sport-a-rama.
Andy Kaufman takes on womenfolk and baits the Memphis crackers
in the Inter-Gender Wrestling matches.
From this, the feud with Jerry Lawler started.
Wrestling was no less fake in the 70s than it is today,
but steroid inflated gorks were not the fixtures.
Interviews with Marilu Henner, Robin Williams, Tony Danza.
Also clips of Kaufman urging Southern women to shave their legs,
and locals to discover soap and toilet tissue.
Brilliant.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Johnny Stool Pigeon - 1949 - 5/10

Vintage cars, big fedoras, and black n white film stock do not a Noir make.
Generic tale of Feds trying to take down a narcotics racket.
Helmed by Dan Duryea, rather subdued in this one, and Howard Duff, sharp as a bar of soap.
One the plus side, this predicts the later Nafta trade era, with locations in Canada, the States and Mexico.
Also, a great deal of this is set at a Tucson dude ranch, rather than rain soaked alleys.
Tony Curtis memorable as mute torpedo.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Reality - 2012 - 5/10

Italian “comedy” about a fish seller / hustler who gets prodded to audition for the Big Brother reality show.
He gradually obsesses over tiny details and loses touch with reality.
Opening sets were breathtaking.  The wedding site, then the Naples neighborhood.
Characters were a different matter, however.  I wanted to hurl bricks at most of them.
Probably by intent.  Everyone was transfixed by the lure of fame and celebrity.
Everyone around me laughed out loud, whereas I viewed the main character being trapped in a chamber of Hell.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Night Train To Lisbon - 2013 - 7/10

Jeremy Irons plays Swiss professor who, after an encounter, stumbles across a slim philosophical / confessional book by Portuguese writer.  He becomes bewitched by the “goldsmith of words,” and catches the train to Lisbon to meet the writer.
Once there, he interviews family and friends, and teases the backstory of broken dreams, lost love, betrayal, torture, all set during the Portuguese revolution of the mid 70s.
Dual narratives dovetail of Irons’ deepening quest, with the excavation of memory.
Most of the film was shot in Lisbon, with its narrow, cobblestone lanes and breathtaking views of the night washed city below and the distant Sao Jorge Castelo.
Highly rewarding film for the patient.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Kraftidioten - 2014 - 7/10
AKA:  In Order Of Disappearance

Ice cold romp of revenge - revenge - more revenge, set in deep freeze Norway.
After the snow plow operator’s son is mistakenly killed, he sets out to kill those responsible.
One by one.
Foes include a pony tailed vegan and a gang of Serbs.
Film laced with the blackest humor, bleak and bitter.
Deserves a wide audience, though lack of teenage heroes or perfumed cleavage will dissuade the 10 watt bulbs.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Shadow Dancer - 2012 - 6/10

Tense drama / thriller set in 1993, during negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British government.
Clive Owen plays MI-5 handler of “flipped” IRA informant.
Plot meanders between the maneuverings of MI-5 compartments, and the internal investigations of the Republican Army.
The political background is not brought to the fore, and unless you were aware of the disputes many in the IRA had with Sinn Féin, you were in the dark.
Likewise, there were many gaping plot holes:  A possible romantic angle.  Why the group suspected they had a mole.  Why MI-5 locked data from Owen’s character.  The ending.
Film felt rush released, and would have benefitted from a more coherent edit.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Bling Ring - 2013 - 6/10

Like most, I knew the story from news reports, and a Rolling Stone article.
Interesting film, and reactions. People around me were disgusted and upset by the whole "home invasion" aspect, while I shrugged. Rich folks didn't have home security systems? Plus, I couldn't care less if Lindsay Lohan was burgled, especially if she - or any of them - was Facebooking her movements and tweeting her home absences for all the world to read. Also, if the Kardashians had been targeted I would have applauded.
The high school kids' use of Facebook and Google earth to plan heists was audacious.
Coppola walked a fine line being sympathetic yet showing their envy and greed.
I enjoyed this, but my morality is shadowy, and I understand how others were disturbed.

Note: Paris Hilton allowed friend, Sofia Coppola, to film inside her home.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural