Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

An Outlaw - 1964 - 6/10
AKA - Narazumono  /  ならず者

Japanese hitman offs mob boss in Hong Kong streets.
Returns to hotel room for payment, finds dead, nude girl in his bed.
The mob boss turns out to be a government official, the dead girl the official’s daughter.
The hitman sees police arrive out his window and realize he’s been set up.
He escapes, but gets mistaken for a player in a drug smuggling operation.
He hides, in what turns out to be a brothel, and gets embroiled with sex traffickers.
This is the first five - ten minutes of a frantic, often confusing, movie.
Vintage postcard as scenes shift from Hong Kong to Yokohama to Macao.  Cool bluesy jazz score.
Violent yarn of betrayal and honor, though motives and participants baffling.
Bond fans, look for Tetsurô Tanba as cardsharp.

[Vultural]

The Monster - 1925 - 5/10

On lonely country road, cars crash and drivers disappear.  Most perplexing to dense locals.
Meek clerk studies his “How To Be A Detective” manual and wonders aloud (in inter-titles) about the empty mental institution nearby.
First third of film packed with stale jokes, uninspired gags.
Naturally, a trio wind up in the sanitarium.

Look out!  The asylum director is none other than Lon Chaney.
Events darken considerably, though comic relief springs at the worst moments.
One wonders if film makers worried audiences might die of heart-attacks.
Creaky, stagebound, mostly tiresome, punctuated with a few grisly, if not startling sequences.

[Vultural]

Infamous - 2006 - 6/10

Toby Jones's portrayal came out the same time as Phillip Hoffman's in Capote.
Jones's is a bit more over the top than Hoffman.
This version also accents how the long judgment process affected Capote.
He couldn't publish “In Cold Blood” until the actual hanging was carried out four years later.
The waiting drained him.
This was a film I more "appreciated" as opposed to "enjoyed."

[Vultural]

The Nice Guys - 2016 - 6/10

Better than Inherent Vice, not as good as Boogie Nights, this detective mystery does a nice job evoking the shallow, at times over the top, 70s.
Gosling and Crowe laugh out loud funny as bickering duo who stagger into hitmen, cover ups, porn stars, and great parties.
Plot completely derivative of TV of the era - Starsky & Hutch, Columbo, Streets Of San Francisco, many more - take your pick.
Song choices were wrong, clothes and cars acceptable.
Angourie Rice, as Gosling’s daughter, is a gem, though her admittance to adult parties - never, ever, ever.
Lightweight.  Keep expectations down and you’ll enjoy more.

[Vultural]

Après Vous - 2003 - 6/10

Late night, taking a shortcut, a head waiter notices a suicide attempt.
He intervenes - rescues, if you will - and takes responsibility for the man.
Lesson 1) Don’t take shortcuts.  Lesson 2) Mind your own business.
The wannabe suicide is a hopeless mess.  No job, no place to live, no self esteem.
Crucially, his girlfriend recently dumped him.
Just like you or I, the waiter sets out to rebuild the guy’s life.
Cotton candy, French fluff.  Not too talky, but certainly strains believability.

[Vultural]

Conan - Man Of War - 1982 / 2012 - 6/10

Just as wide-eyed Spinal Tap acolytes rever Valhalla for the mere existence of Manowar, so too the burgeoning ranks of fanedit viewers ought to worship editor “TMBTM” for this sonic overhaul of the Hyborian Age.
This is mostly a “silent” version of Conan, with music by metal group Manowar replacing most of the dialogue and all of the Poldoris score.  The syncing of music to onscreen action is outstanding.  Riffs roar during mayhem, caress melodic during pensive or thoughtful moments.  Dialogue is at an absolute minimum in this.
Behold!

Note - Midway through the film, Conan and Valeria surrender to romantic urges.  While watching I detected the opening strains of the music and thought,  “That sounds like Nessun Dorma.”  Sure enough, the opening strains of Puccini’s Turandot swelled.  Even though I knew that TMBTM had replaced all music with MOW, I asked myself,  “Michael Bolton?”  Of course not, it was Manowar attempting a number completely beyond them.
Great.

[Vultural]

3 Bellezas - 2014 - 5/10
AKA - 3 Beauties

Forced, unfunny “comedy” from Venezuela.
Beauty contestant failure, now single mother, drums the path to runway on her small daughters.
The son is nothing.  “Forget him.  He’ll only grow into a hairy, smelly man.”
She also constantly reminds the girls,  “You are not sisters - you are rivals.”
Resentments and grudges build, from childhood to the national competition.
If you can reference Jon Benet, you ought to cringe at this.
Females I viewed this with totally recognized the mother character.

Subtitles on the DVD were highly ungrammatical, highly entertaining.

[Vultural]

Cold Prey - 2006 - 5/10

Norwegian dead teenager flick.
After some business with a chase early on, newspaper and TV reports indicate 100+ skiers have mysteriously disappeared.
Cut to a SUV with five teens out for snowboarding jollies.
The serious couple, the horny couple, the jokster. Then they find - whoa! - a deserted ski lodge.
Predictable slasher genre. I knew who would die first, and who would survive or die last.
I knew this would be generic, but I couldn't stop myself.
Bubble head.

 

[Vultural]

Son Of Saul - 2015 - 8/10

Hungarian film set inside camp Auschwitz during its gruesome height.
Told from the point of view of the Sonderkommandos, Jewish prisoners forced to assist the Nazis with “shepherding,” cleaning, and coverup.
One of the prisoners, when confronted with the death of a small boy, either has a breakdown or decides to act like a Mensch and give the child a proper Kaddish burial.
All manner of ugly things are ongoing in the background, out of focus or one only sees fragments.
A late night sequence is a harrowing view of living in Hell on borrowed time.
Interesting is the unseen order among prisoners, how they assist and blackmail each other.
Imaginative and fresh, dense with visuals.  Crucial sound design.

[Vultural]

Fast Company - 1938 - 6/10

Police seem baffled!
Priceless books have been stolen.
Then a reputable dealer (ahem, the villainous George Zucco) is found dead!
Who can police turn to?
Why, a marriage couple who happen to be antiquarian book sellers.
Yeah, a pair of “readers."
Think Nick and Nora Charles, Thin Man, and the rest is easy.
Brisk, charming mystery that falls midway between the PreCode gangster era and Film Noir.
Dwight Frye has a decent supporting role (meaning not his typecast neurotic headcase) as forger.

[Vultural]

Anvil! - The Story Of Anvil - 2008 - 5/10

One I had avoided for years. Spinal Tap meets Strange Fruit (Still Crazy), only Anvil was a real band, and their problems more depressing.
Decades earlier, Anvil influenced speed and thrash, and are still remembered by existing groups (interviews included members from Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, guitarist Slash, etc ... ) This doc catches Lips (guitar/singer) delivering food (his day job), the band starting a disastrous Euro tour (underground dives, no money), too broke to make a new album.
One sorry aspect about the film was hearing Lars, Slash, Lemmy ... talk how great Anvil was.
Not one of them stepped up and offered a tour gig.
What’s that term when you talk out of the side of your mouth?  Oh yeah, hypocrite.
Anvil is an old group, chasing a rock and roll torch that flickered out quite awhile ago.
Not an uplifting or funny time. I was kinda bummed.

[Vultural]

Women Of 69 - Unboxed - 7/10 - 2014

Offbeat documentary catches up with Skidmore’s Class of ‘69.
Instead of creating a yearbook, the women had crafted a “yearbox” in 1969.
Now, at age 65, they recall their college years and how that affected adult choices.
Revealing to hear very successful women discuss youthful insecurites compared with their current path.
Freedom is an important concept, as well as independence.  Breaking free resonates.

A life affirming doc, though unlikely to tempt younger audiences (in delicious irony, independent Boomers have raised  dependent offspring)..
The backward glance can be a trap.  To my thinking, one should be careful when gazing at your younger self.

In 1969, Skidmore College was still a women’s college, before going coed in 1971.
Recently it has been awarded 1st place in the annual Reefer Madness poll.
Top school for marijuana users.

[Vultural]

Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens - 2016 - 3/10

The perils of living with shark enthusiasts ...
One might think this stale franchise went belly up a couple installments earlier.
As long as has-beens line up for cameo immortality, and suckers tune in, it’ll go one forever.
Bigger, noisier, with almost nonstop action, and countless human dinners.
This ‘nado spirals out of Las Vegas, twists eastwards, through Texas, up tornado alley into Kansas.
Aside from cameos, this is sprinkled with iconic references to better films.
I’d say avoid, assuming you control the remote.

[Vultural]

Phyllis And Harold - 2008 - 7/10

Documentary about the director (Cindy Kleine's) parents and their 55 year long "happy" marriage.
The husband was happy, he assumed the marriage was great, life was good, he was successful.
The wife, on the other hand ...
Secrets, big secrets, unhappiness, profound disappointment at the choice she made 55 years earlier.
Film not released until both spouses were dead.

[Vultural]

Fascism In Colour - 2007 - 6/10

Two part documentary pertaining to Fasci di Combattimento, or Fascismo Italiano.
The rise of the Fascist party in Italy following World War I, accepted by half the populace, as well as the Vatican, as a strong force to combat the rising tide of Communism.
First part sees the formulation and street battles between Blackshirts and Socialists.
Second part, foreign military excursions and then the disastrous, jealous alliance with Nazi Germany.
Flaw with this series is its reliance on dramatizing events (ie: staging scenes with actors).
Focus is on Mussolini, caught between wanting to raise Italy’s world rank, yet knowing 30s Italy is not on the same level as England, France, and especially Germany.

What draws me to these subjects is increasing global polarization.
Many nations now have proto-Mussolinis with broad appeal running for office or in change.

[Vultural]

No Man’s Woman - 1955 - 6/10

Fatale Marie Windsor, of purring voice and voracious eyes, dominates in so-so Noir.
Her husband demands a divorce wife so he can marry sweet young thing.
“Offer me a huge alimony plus half your business."
When the company founder offers $30,000 she ejects him, saying, “I said an offer, not a tip.”
She forces her female assistant to work on her day off, then she makes a play for her fiance.
When the fiance tries to evade her, she blackmails him.
Bad girl Marie is a piece of work, and tells folks she’s still 29.
Sadly - am I’m not divulging too much here - she gets murdered midway and the story falters.
The other characters are weak and uninteresting in comparison.
OK time waster.  Like watching Perry Mason minus Perry and Paul.

[Vultural]

Mesrine: Part 1 - Killer Instinct - 2008 - 8/10

I always run hot and cold with Vincent Cassel. When he's too over the top, he can ruin an entire film.
Mesrine is a role he was born to play.
Cassel dominates every scene in Part One, as Jacques Mesrine begins his career of robberies and kidnappings in France, USA and Canada. Canadian prison farm sequence is nicely grim.
A solid action flick, without unnecessary pyrotechnics or college grad CGI.
Can't wait to see Part Two.

 

[Vultural]

Mesrine: Part 2 - Public Enemy #1 - 2008 - 8/10

The narrative picks up after Part 1, though Jacques Mesrine has suddenly moved back to France from Canada.
Robberies, gunfights, the never ending chase.
Escape from courthouse hearing, another escape from a maximum security prison.
All based on the real life character, up to his assassination by the police.
Action biography for adults. No CGI, no teenagers, no impossible stunt work.
Cassel should have been award nominated across the globe for these two.

 

[Vultural]

All The World’s A Screen - 2016 - 7/10

This was a fortuitous mistake.  Elsewhere, someone reviewed a Shakespeare doc, narrated by Ian McKellen.
I never found it, though I stumbled upon this documentary and it is excellent.
Film adaptations of the bard’s plays.
Seems to target four or five:  “Hamlet,”  “King Lear,”  “Macbeth,”  “Romeo And Juliet”
Covers Silent era to recent productions, and a fair number of foreign interpretations, Kurosawa’s Ran being the most famous.
Several I never heard of and started hunting.
More mainstream releases are fine intros for novices, the obscure will suit buffs or cinéastes.

 

[Vultural]

Hamlet Goes Business - 1987 - 7/10
AKA - Hamlet liikemaailmassa

Finnish reworking transforms the indecisive prince into a Noir player, as manipulative as he is lethal.
Hamlet’s father is murdered. The murderer marries Hamlet’s mother, takes over management of the company.
He announces he intends to sell off the shipping and timber divisions, in order to corner the rubber duck market.
You read correct. That is just one of many alterations.
Stark black n white, loaded with droll comedy, and murders aplenty.

I have seen over a dozen Hamlets. All are overlong and I find Hamlet himself annoying.
This version runs a concise 87“ and is funny.
Mmmm ... Scandinavian humor might be an acquired taste.