Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Quiet Please:  Murder - 1942 - 6/10

Brisk thriller / mystery, with the main characters very much the villains.
Smoothie George Sanders is a rare book thief.
After well-publicized thefts, he creates quality forgeries which he peddles to unscrupulous collectors.
They can’t well verify if the book is real, and if they find out, who can they complain to?
Great plan, eh?
Except one forgery is sold to a Nazi agent, buying for Hermann Goering.
During a blackout, Sanders and his duplicitous colleague (sensual Gail Patrick) find themselves trapped in a vast public library, along with a private investigator and those pesky Nazis, demanding a refund!
Fun little B-movie, very much of its time.

[Vultural]

Tracks - 2013 - 6/10

Based on the true story, and I gather this was more or less accurate as two of the original participants appear in the Bonus section, along with numerous photos.
27 year old female decides to hike 1600+ miles across Australian outback to Indian Ocean.
With her are four camels and her faithful black dog.
A photographer acquaintance helps her get National Geographic as sponsor, but Tracks is a lonely trip.
Existential, metaphysical journey, though difficult to tell if she actually “changes.”
We don’t really grasp Robyn’s before and after.  The physical journey is the movie.
At the end, I was like,  “Is that it?”  “Why did she ..?’
Self discovery - understood best by oneself.

[Vultural]

My Gun Is Quick - 1957 - 6/10

Low budget quickie of tawdry Mickey Spillane novel.
Mike Hammer helps out jailbait hooker in hash house.
Couple beats later, downtown police advise him girl was found dead.
Curious, Hammer starts investigating.
Crappy sets, no name actors, indifferent music score bear witness to limited resources.
This actually works in favor of the cheap look and gritty feel of the material.
Spillane’s pulp cocktail of strippers, murderers, WWII smugglers, and sex is well served.

[Vultural]

Best Worst Movie - 2009 - 7/10

Documentary on Troll 2, often listed as the worst movie ever made.
Unlike Troma camp, Troll 2 was not meant to be awful, but a cascade of bad acting, inept script, an Italian director and writer who could not speak English, zero production values, resulted in a reel of brown goo.
Then the movie went on to become a cult favorite, though the Italian director still insisted Troll 2 was an artistic triumph, full of meaning and family values.
The documentary catches up with old cast members (George Hardy is now a dentist) and shows packed midnight movie houses.
Real passion from people who love bad movies.
Consider yourself warned.

[Vultural]

Lady In The Van - 2015 - 7/10

Beware - Advertised as a comedy.  Maybe in the “better him than me” genre.
Maggie Smith plays homeless lady who moves onto a street, eventually one resident’s driveway and stays 15 years!
She never does find work, frightens the children, does not bathe, is argumentative, imperious, manipulative.
Gradually, very gradually, viewers peek into slices of her past, and realize hers has been a tragically wasted life.
While I did not enjoy this film, the plot construction is excellent, score works well, acting is peerless.
Challenging movie to love, though easy to appreciate.
Based on a short book, then on a much lauded play (2000, also with Maggie Smith).

The real question is how neighbors tolerated Mary / Margaret in their midst.
 Most streets would have summoned authorities and institutionalized her within days.
Recommended, though her character is exasperating.
Keep a sharp eye out for numerous cameos!

[Vultural]

Where To Invade Next - 2015 - 6/10

Another even handed documentary from the always fair minded Michael Moore.
This outing, the social critic travels abroad to “claim” the best attributes of other nations for his fellow Americans.
Italy - six weeks paid vacation.  Five months paid maternity leave.
Finland - no homework and young grades only go to school three hours a day.
Slovenia - free college.  Tunisia - equal rights for women.
France - healthy school nutrition.  Moore, poster child for health, offers one of the children his Coca Cola.
There are other countries, with other systems.  Moore marvels at each with a big,  “Are you kidding me?”
Nary a differing voice is heard in his very idealistic walkabout.
No reference made of human nature.  Greed, laziness, self serving, what are those?
Tempted to dock a point because Moore is such a schmuck.

[Vultural]

Sex, Chips And Rock N' Roll - 1999 - 6/10

Coming of age mini-series.
Sisters Arden and Ellie fall in the path of The Ice Cubes, a rising pop group in the early 60s.
Wistful recollection of Eccles, with an irresistible song selection and youthful performances.
Nice layers of multiple generations conflicting, as well as surprising class misconceptions.
I found this quite by accident when looking for other work by James Callis (aka - The Wolf, aka - Gaius Baltar).

[Vultural]

Bombay Velvet - 2015 - 5/10

Street urchin’s violent rise to become manager of wildly popular club in 60s Bombay.
Riffs of Scarface and Casino float, though this is tame on violence and sex.
Story starts in 1949 following two young boys. Time shifts abruptly with few clues.  Just catch up.
Big money employs thugs to pound the path for land development in go-go Bombay.
Many musical numbers, yet most are set in the nightclub world of sequins and stockings..
Strives for operatic, succumbs to melodrama.
Uninspired plot, poorly envisioned characters, a story that is glossy, empty, and of course, overlong.

Danny Boyle and Martin Scorsese thanked in opening credits.
Thelma Schoonmaker one of the film editors.
This shoulda been better.

 

[Vultural]

Vincere - 2009 - 4/10

Italian potboiler about one of Benito Mussolini's mistresses.
She goes insane - or is insane to begin with - and institutionalized.
Ham fisted acting accompanied by operatic music cranked to 11 during heavy melodrama.
Possibly the music was meant to wake dozing viewers.
As far as historical accuracy, I do not know.

[Vultural]

The VVitch - 2016 - 7/10

Tried to avoid reviews and hype swirling around this one.
17th century colonials are ejected from the fortified plantation for unclear reasons.
One gathers the family head is a malcontent and religious troublemaker.
The family relocate to the edge of the forest and go it alone.
Hard luck trails them like blight.
Austere film, desaturated colours, slow pace, dialogue lifted from very old journals and court proceedings.
These are souls adrift and the backstory is barely hinted at.
The family departed England for a reason, were subsequently ejected from the colony for likely the same.
Brilliantly conceived and executed arthouse horror, but this mood piece will not be to all tastes.

[Vultural]

Welp - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - Cub

Inventive, gruesome, intense, all kinds of wrong horror, clearly in the slasher genre.
A pack of cub scouts head into the woods for camping fun.
Their two den masters know locals shun the area.
There have been suicides and disappearances.
Oh yeah, one of the den leaders brings his dog.
Though most of the boys are ages 9-12, this Belgium horror ride is not for kids.
Children ... a dog ... understand - no one is safe.  Parents and dog lovers will get uncomfortable.
Musical score is a wondrous arrangement of dark synthesizer.
Woods are packed with Rube Goldberg traps.
US remake highly unlikely.  Red meat for slash fans.

[Vultural]

The Art Of The Steal - 2009 - 7/10

Documentary on how Philadelphia politicians, charitable institutes, and foundations, colluded to disregard the stipulated will of mega collector Albert C Barnes, shift stewardship of a priceless collection to the Philadelphia Museum.

Why? Tourist money in the millions.

I viewed this with a group who were appalled, indignant, angry.
I argued theft is in our DNA. I referenced the Elgin Marbles, the Hermitage, loot taken by Caesar, Napoleon, Goering, and untold wealth grabbed by Conquistador Spain from Central and South America.
The group then chastised me for being cynical and sent me out to purchase snacks.

[Vultural]

Les Rendez-Vous de Paris - 1995 - 6/10

Three separate stories of romance and fidelity by Éric Rohmer.
A girl is informed her boyfriend is unfaithful.  What to do?
Another girl cannot decide to remain with her boyfriend and go with another.
The third story follows an artist who tries to pick up a newlywed.
Narratives are sequential, not interlocking.
Great photography of Parisian backstreets and neighborhood parks.
Talking and walking.  Ordinary lives.
Characters mention the word “banal” frequently, it applies.

[Vultural]

Marwencol - 2010 - 7/10

Documentary.
Mark Hogancamp got the living crap beat out of him in a bar. Literally. He was in a coma for days. When he emerged, he had to relearn how to walk and talk again. After 30 days, the hospital gave him the old "Good luck" heave ho.
He had been an artist with talent before, but lost the skills to draw when injured. He began creating tableaux using dolls, setting them in a violent, often bloody, WWII environment. Doll characters had their basis in Mark's real life friends and coworkers.
Quick moving story as he uses his outsider art to rehabilitate his artistic abilities, work through obsessions, fixations, and inner demons, then gaining recognition from galleries.

A fave - Stuntman Kurt, shot by Nazi, drinking whiskey.

[Vultural]

45 Years - 2015 - 8/10

Agonizing portrayal of marriage in crisis.
Days before a husband and wife celebrate their 45th anniversary, he receives an official note of a “found” body.
His old girlfriend, who had been hiking with him in the Swiss Alps, had fallen into a crevasse.
With global warming, the glacier had melted and her body was visible, some fifty years later.
“Why would they notify you?”  the wife asked.
“I was listed as next of kin.”
“Why was that?”
“Well, see, we were sort of married.”
After that, the husband grows increasingly soaked in regret - for his youth, for another life, for the girl he wanted to spend his life with.
Charlotte Rampling devastating as wife who sees the old flame as a destroying angel.

[Vultural]

The Forbidden Room - 2015 - 7/10

Wow, I have seen some truly bizarre films in my time, this one hits my top 2% in out-there.
Collision of arthouse, experimental, Silent cinema, demonstration shorts ...
A submarine crew is trapped undersea with a cargo of explosive jelly.
Because they are running out of air, they gobble down hotcakes since those are filled with air pockets.
A sopping wet woodsman (Sapling Jack) enters their midst via a door / duct.
He shares his story of fighting the Red Wolves who had captured the lovely Margot.
Margot in turn, remembers when she had over a hundred broken bones set by the doctor who fell in love with her, only he was kidnapped in the sensuous embrace of skeleton women.

That’s maybe the first twenty minutes of an almost two hour visual kaleidoscope.
Visual dissolves, inter-titles, musique concrète, a powerhouse cast, in a film confusing, funny, and thoughtful.
Oh, one of the woman’s boyfriends turns into a banana.  How could I forget that?
Unwary - beware.

[Vultural]

Testament Of Youth - 2015 - 7/10

Latest adaptation of Vera Brittain’s World War I memoir.
Brittain, presumably part of the rural gentry, dreams of becoming a writer and being admitted to Oxford.
Events go her way at first, though one is reminded of simmering tensions in Europe throughout.
Gradually, however, the conflagration across the Channel empties her world.
Film picks up pace as the conflict grows. First part of the movie is a bit too low key.
The romantic leads lack chemistry, as well as intensity.
Second half is altogether sharper and grimmer.
Ending felt rushed. Investigate the 1979 version for a fuller aftermath.

[Vultural]

Jerichow - 2008 - 5/10

German love triangle drama with three characters old-enough-to-know-better, making poor decisions.
Turkish owner of a string of snack stands hires a discharged vet to drive.
The boss has drinking problems, and a young, trophy wife, built like a snake (ie: not a gram of fat on her).
Classic rule - Don't bang the boss's wife. Secretary and daughter are bad enough, but the wife ...
Course then we would not have predictable movies like Jerichow.
"Making of" documentary tried to explain hidden motivations and underlying character issues.
Zzzzzzzz ....

[Vultural]

Remember - 2016 - 8/10

Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau as ninetyish Auschwitz survivors in nursing home.
Plummer suffers dementia, Landau is wheelchair confined.
They discover an Auschwitz officer had escaped under a false name and lives in North America.
Plummer, confused and forgetful, agrees to locate and assassinate the Nazi.
Landau arranges as much as he can, tickets, room reservations, a printed itinerary, but Plummer is on his own.
Story makes rather painful viewing, but the hunt, the unfolding mystery, is thrilling, suspenseful and will keep you glued to the screen.
Plummer is exceptional in this, shading the character, Zev (Hebrew for Wolf) with regret, weariness, yet underlying resolve.

Note - Tiptoe review, this.  Unexpected surprises occur during Zev’s journey.
Beware of reviews with thoughtless spoilers.  Sadly, that trend seems to worsen each year.

[Vultural]

House Of Horrors - 1946 - 6/10

Diverting B-thriller with a solid Noir / Expressionistic look.
Outsider sculptor (failed artist) rescues large man from river.
Inspired by his grotesque features, the artist uses him as model for his Neanderthal piece.
He rants about unappreciative critic, not knowing his new friend is actually a psychotic killer.
Still ... no one likes critics, now do they?
At barely an hour, the plot chugs along swiftly.  Pleasant 40s era cheesecake a bonus.