Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Impact - 1949 - 6/10

Solid Noir-ish mystery with good San Francisco locations and great, great creampuff cars.

Tycoon plans business trip with his wife, whom he adores.
She catches a headache, gets hubby to take her “cousin” (spelled l-o-v-e-r) instead.
Wife and boyfriend intend sending hubby to the Reaper, except when the plan goes wrong it goes terribly wrong.
From that point, until the last couple minutes, the narrative curves and haripins in often unusual directions.
Sometimes it is predictable, other turns come straight outta nowhere.
Charles Coburn steals every scene he’s in as sharp Irish detective.
For old school buffs, Silent actress Mae Marsh has a key role during the idyllic sequence.
Anna May Wong, in one her final movies, is likewise given a pivotal character role.

[Vultural]

Elle Boit Pas, Elle Fume Pas, Elle Drague Pas, Nais . . . Elle Cause! - 1970 - 6/10
AKA - She Does Not Drink, Smoke Or Flirt But . . . She Talks

Early 70s French comedy of sex, murder and blackmail.
Part time maid works three separate households.
From each, she unearths dodgy scandals.
Bitter secrets each would pay huge to keep concealed.
Human nature being what it is, fools will always leave themselves open to treachery.

The maid’s hand is terrific, yet she avoids the obvious play.
There is copious nudity (one of the characters constantly undresses women mentally).
Dated, but in a good way.  Fashion, hairstyles, attitudes’.  Frothy fun.

[Vultural]

Shelter - 2014 - 6/10

Homeless man from Nigeria forms fragile relationship with heroin addict.
He recognizes a soul in crisis.  She says she doesn’t need anyone.
Predictable, despite the bonus Q&A session with director Paul Bettany saying this is based on real life observations of a homeless pair outside his window.
Really?  One far-fetched sequence had the couple encamping in a posh Manhattan apartment after the vacationing owners left a door unlocked - and apparently had no security system.  Trusting New Yorkers.
The street living couple are rather clean, too.  Clothes - hair.
Gradually, they share their backstories and that telegraphs how their ends will play out.
Gritty downer - but their misfortunes are more in keeping with Lemony Snicket rather than Ken Loach.

[Vultural]

Meek's Cutoff - 2010 - 6/10

A group of pioneers heading for Oregon in 1845 hires a mountain man who knows a shortcut.
Yes, shortcut.  Females worldwide are shaking their heads.
Of course he gets them lost.  In the desert, no less.
Add parched thirst, and a Paiute Indian prowling about.
The film is very slow, colours washed out, dialogue sparse.
Much of the film is from the women's point of view.  Thus we cannot hear what the men are quietly discussing.
Not an action flick, but a mood piece that will try the patience of many.

 

[Vultural]

S.V.D. - Soyuz velikogo dela - 1927 - 6/10
AKA - The Club Of The Big Deed

The Decembrist Revolt of 1825, occurred in Russia after the Napoleonic Wars.
After Czar Alexander I died, eldest son Constantine declined the crown and his brother Nicholas accepted it.
There was brief fighting between regiments, the revolution was crushed, most survivors shipped to Siberia.
Oversimplified background.

This movie is a miniaturized version of the rebellion in one regiment.
The main character, however, is a cardsharp, seller of information and betrayer.
Rebels plan in back rooms, but the cad hears enough valuable information to sell.
One sequence takes place in a circus, which has little bearing, though it is interesting to see the strong-woman hoist an artillery cannon.
As Soviet films go, this is mild on the propaganda.
S V D is also a marvelous example of “flicker” as light dances throughout.
Howling midnight gales, hard shadows, cigarette smoke are expertly used for atmosphere.

[Vultural]

The Tag Along - 2015 - 5/10

Individuals are being haunted, then carried away in Taiwan.
Forest demons, their woodlands being felled, hunt souls in the city.
Film launches with inventive opening credits.
The “disappeared” one realizes are those who are forgotten or neglected.
Elderly grandma, for example.
Another plus is the two part construction.  First is in the city, second is deep in the woods.
The story is narrative driven, though a couple usages of found-footage are effective.
Biggest problem is the moralizing.  Coupled with “guilt" the story grows preachy.

[Vultural]

The Green Archer - 1940 - 6/10

Fairly early Columbia serial.  Younger brother is convicted of crime and sent to the slammer.
Meanwhile, the older brother, the cunning, sly one, inherits large manor home from where he spins his web of crime.
The huge estate has subterranean tunnels, trap doors, secret rooms, intercom, giant killer dogs (Great Danes), a car elevator (with full time elevator operator), even an underground garage!
The villainous brother masterminds a platoon of thugs and robbers.  Local police are hapless.
Squared off against evil doers is the masked ghost of the house - the Green Archer!
And an insurance agent named Spike!
Much of this serial is ridiculous and awful in a delightful way.
The crime lord is a preening fool.  He struts, gloats, brags about his big ole brain, then wails like Baby Huey when he loses a round.  Fortunately, his feeble brained flunkies more often than not bail him out.

Female characters squeak when startled and stand still during fistfights, watching or wringing their hands.  One memorable scene, she keeps straightening her hair while Spike gets his ass kicked.  Guess it was windy.
The Green Archer communicates by shooting arrows with notes into stuffed furniture.  I started wondering if he did re upholstery work during his day job.
Quality of chapter cliffhangers?  This serial has more cheats than a trailer park.
Caution - Children in 1940 were less shielded than those of today, as this serial is filled with killings.

[Vultural]

The Donner Party - 1992 - 8/10

Everyone has their holiday favorites.
The Donner Party documentary is the American Dream, turned upside down into nightmare.
Back in 1846, a portion of the covered wagons rolling west to California, left the main body to take a "shortcut."
Hastings Cutoff proved longer, far more difficult than predicted, and devoured precious time.  By the time wagons reached the Sierra Mountains, the Donner group was trapped near Truckee.  They had to winter there without food or supplies.
Then the snow began to fall ... and fall ... and fall.
Days turned into weeks, then into months.
They ate the cattle, they ate the oxen, they ate the horses.  They ate the leather leads and harnesses, they ate grass and bark off trees.  They ate their pets.
Finally, they started on the last remaining form of meat.  The other white meat.
When they were finally saved in the late spring, rescuers were horrified by what they found.
Completely true story.

Most females I know go haywire when they hear guys use the shortcut phrase.  Maybe it's in their DNA.

[Vultural]

When Pop Went Epic - The Crazy World Of The Concept Album - 2016 - 7/10

Documentary, hosted by a droll Rick Wakeman, explores concept albums.
From early steps to the heyday of the 60s and 70s to the excesses that led to parody.
Many “survivors” interviewed, all amused and chuckling at the loon within.
One of the more illuminating interviewees was artist Roger Dean, who explained his private concepts for his Yes covers.
Lots of music - sadly, I own almost every album on LP or CD.
Worse, there were two or three albums I did not have, which I now have to find.
Hopefully, they came out in gatefold.
Great companion to Prog Rock Britannia - An Observation In Three Movements.

[Vultural]

Les Beaux Jours - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - Bright Days Ahead

Midlife crisis alert!
Woman drops her dental practice after dispute.
Too old for new career, too young for retirement, she investigates the senior center.
Tries acting class, pottery, painting, the lot.
Eventually, she begins an affair with one of the instructors, twenty years younger.
Her husband - yes, she is married - is blind, disinterested, tolerant.
Typical of too many French films, plot never really goes anywhere.

[Vultural]

Moonlight Murder - 1936 - 6/10

Creaky mystery set at the Hollywood Bowl.
The opera tenor is being threatened - “Sing onstage and you will die!”
There are attempts and numerous suspects.
The tenor is dallying with his leading lady as well as the lead dancer.
Each are highly jealous, with suspicious husbands in the company!
The understudy wants the tenor’s role.  An insane composer is on the loose!
At barely 60“, the plot rockets along although a full 10“ are rehearsals and performance of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.”

 

[Vultural]

Sense & Sensibility - 2008 - 8/10

Outstanding three part series of the Jane Austen costume drama.
More than holds its own with the  Ang Lee / Emma Thompson version, but marred by a fatal casting error.
Being longer, more characters and incidents entered the narrative. Some useful (Lucy Steele's sister), some useless (an opening erotic moment, a pointless duel).
Story follows a family of females after their father dies and they are displaced from the manor.
Their mother was wife #2, and English estates always pass into male hands.
Struggles to survive in “good society” and perhaps find romance.  
Cast was uniformly fine, though Dominic Cooper was profoundly miscast as Willoughby.
He plays his character as an oily troll, and no female, of any time period, would throw herself at him, unless he was dripping money.

[Vultural]

Resurrection Of The Little Match Girl - 2002 - 4/10 or 7/10

Big budget Korean Sci Fi.
No doubt about it, one either loved this film or hated it.
Mash of Matrix meets Tron, as gamer enters "The System".  Point of the game is to be the last person the matchstick girl sees before she freezes to death.
Multiple players (stick with main character and drag queen Lara) confuse an already muddled plotline.
Stunning visuals, however, compensate, along with a fun mix of music.
Lots of shoot-outs and wire work.
Good example of over reaching film that failed badly.

[Vultural]

When Ladies Meet - 1933 - 5/10

Creaky Pre-Code vehicle about oh-so-sophisticated adults carrying on.
An unwanted boyfriend is jealous that his girl is drawn to an older man.  Married man.
The unwanted arranges a “chance” encounter between the cheater and cheated.
Then there’s a whole pile of talk and deep thought in the drawing room.
Myrna Loy sparkles as the open-minded youngling, but this is Ann Harding’s film.
When she appears, eventually, she totally dominates every scene.
Tame, talky, based - obviously so - on a play.

[Vultural]

Creep - 2015 - 5/10

Found footage genre finds one of the Duplass brothers playing terminal cancer statistic.
He hires a cameraman to film “his life” for his unborn son so junior can see what dad was like.
The meeting and shoot is at an isolated cabin, which only someone with putty for brains would agree to.
Really.  Haven’t people seen horror films?
Two actors alternately irritating, annoying, questionable, sad.
The camera guy arrives mid morning.  Afternoon draws into evening into night.
A handful of unpredictable twists and turns, but the story is paper-thin predictable.
Disappointing.  DVD offers alternate, not better, endings

[Vultural]

Hello, My Name Is Doris - 2015 - 5/10

Nice meeting you, Doris, now goodbye.
Sally Field plays 60+ shlemiel in Manhattan ad agency, everyone else is 20s and 30s.
A transfer arrives from California, 30 year old guy she develops the hots for.
She stalks him via social media, shows up at music raves.
The one-sided “romance” is not Harold And Maude.
Doris has zero vitality, has the fashion sense of a bag lady, and the social skills of a leftover bagel.
Her obsession is creepy.  Apologists cry that if men do it, so can she.
No, stretching two generations is generally beyond accepted norms, for either gender.
Secondary plot deals with the aftermath of her mother’s death, with whom she had been living.
Her brother (and wife) suggest she clean out the Staten Island house before selling - and what - share the proceeds?  Seems filmmakers dialed back that aspect so to make him more sympathetic.

[Vultural]

One Missed Call 2 - 2005 - 4/10

I bought One Missed Call 1 when it first came out.  It was OK, at best.

This was during the peak of dead wet girl films.
Part 2 offered less meals (victims), and the deaths lacked creativity.
There were a couple of rambling threads regarding the villain that went nowhere.
Predictable - formula - waste of time.

Warning - There is yet another sequel - 03, which is just as bad.
Even worse is the US remake which makes these look like masterpieces.
Avoid.  Don’t be an idiot like me and view crap - unless you have a taste for it.

[Vultural]

The Gift - 2015 - 7/10

Terrific, intelligent thriller.  I will try to be very careful here.
Man bumps into old schoolmate whilst buying new home supplies with his bride.
The old chum “invites” himself into their home, then into their lives.
The guy is reserved, moody, and the wife’s radar goes off.
Husband then remembers the guy’s school nickname was “Weirdo.”
Twenty minutes in, this has all the trappings of the 137 cookie cutter stalker flicks.
Only noooooo, the plot starts to skew and assumptions unravel.
BEWARE OF REVIEWS, try to watch this cold.
Darkly satisfying.

[Vultural]

A Perfect Getaway - 2009 - 6/10

Oh, those turistas.  Especially the twenty somethings.
Irritatingly upbeat, eager for risky adventures, seeking trouble
This had been on my list for awhile, but hutong females always vetoed with, "No more dead teenager films."
Perfect Getaway was not a dead teenager flick.
A honeymoon couple starts trekking the remote Kalalau Trail.
They learn that other honeymooners had been murdered by a mysterious couple.
Could they be the creepy hitch-hikers they refused to give a ride to? Or the crazy vet and his cracker girlfriend?
Nice thriller with good twists.
Milla Jovovich and Steve Zahn stand out, but all leads gave decent performances.

[Vultural]

Obscene - A Portrait Of Barney Rosset and Grove Press - 2007 - 6/10

Scored this high early on, lowered it as the film progressed.
Suspicious documentary of the publisher of Grove Press.
The first half of this is absolutely smashing!  New York literary elite, the Beats, Jazz greats.  All signposted.
Rosset bought a tiny press and proceeded to publish “Lady Chatterly’s Lover,” “Tropic Of Cancer,” and “Naked Lunch.”
Each time, he and his cohorts fought local censors and numerous courts.  Grove became the locus of the new generation of literature. and published the 50s edgy icons.

Next, Grove bought I Am Curious Yellow and fought for the film.
By the 70s, however, Grove was publishing Victorian erotica (porn in purple prose).

Those erotic titles were the ones I distinctly remember seeing in the drugstore racks.
The press, as well as the documentary, goes downhill at this point.
There was a well publicized strike by, as Rosset called them, women libbers.
A bomb went off.  He lost his business, he lost his property.
Everyone soft pedaled the latter years.  Last twenty minutes feels like a whitewash,