Rest In Peace - 2013 - Croatia

Rest In Peace  - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - Počivali U Miru
 

The state prison at Zagreb is closed, scheduled for demolition.
Local reporter, doing a story on this, runs across the plot of unclaimed graves.
Why did no one want them?  What were their stories?
And why, inside the first coffin, was there no body?  Only a straw effigy.
What follows is a "story of the week."  A low rent Lothario, amateur bank robbers, a rube left holding the Ponzi scheme, and darker tales of vengeance, blood and murder.
Since most of their histories took place in the recent past, especially during the Yugoslav Wars of the 90's, there are numerous flashbacks throughout.
Also, the reporter, Lucia, needs an inside guide and finds one in retired guard, Martin.
Martin is crafty, secretive, helpful, corrupt, guilt ridden.  Truth does not come easy.
While we watch each corpse's life, there is an ongoing arc of the man who was the straw effigy.

 
Well told and nicely structured series from Croatia.
The show is steeped in the vendettas and atrocities of the Balkan conflicts.
A working knowledge of that history is not mandatory, but it will certainly help.

The Unholy Three - 1925 - USA

The Unholy Three - 1925 - 6/10

 
Decided to rewatch this after reading the original novel.
The Tod Robbin’s novel differed markedly, principally in that the chief boss is not Echo, but Tweedledee.
In the Tod Browning adaptation, the focus is Echo.  Lon Chaney was a megastar.
Three troublesome misfits leave the circus sideshow for a life of crime.
Robberies and burglaries grow increasingly violent, resulting in murder.
An absurd romance is force-fit into the proceedings (there was one in the novel, but this one is ridiculous).
The film is creaky, the pace poky.  Later Browning and Chaney pairings would be better.
The print ranges from good to fair.  This has never been remastered.  There are two 1925 versions;  one shows rudimentary tinting (done by a fan who did not grasp the principles of tinting).
The soundtrack is an random assemblage of Classical and salon, never appropriately mirroring the ongoing screen action.
Chaney deserves better.

20 Feet From Stardom - 2013 - USA

20 Feet From Stardom - 2013 - 6/10

 
Acclaimed documentary about background singers.
Some were genuinely cheated (Darlene Love), others held the spotlight for a bit (Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer).
Most were - are - simply that, background singers.
Filmmakers make this as interesting as they can, but it stuck me there would be little difference between this and a doc about Hollywood or television bit players.
Sly might have sung, “Everybody is a star,”  but sorry, no, everybody is not.

1964 (American Experience) - 2014 - USA

1964  (American Experience) - 2014 - 7/10

Documentary lays out the premise that 1964 was THE pivotal year for the States.
The transition from the 50’s to the 60’s.
Cultural landmarks include:  Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” Civil Rights marches, The Beatles arrival, Cassius Clay – Muhammad Ali, Vietnam, Berkeley unrest , etc …

 
The ongoing crux of the narrative was the Presidential contest between Johnson and Goldwater.
How Goldwater, in essence, shifted the Republican party out of the country club and into the right wing.

The edge of my memory, this, and events are difficult to separate from those I actually remember from those I subsequently learned through reading and watching.
One pet theory of mine is that this was the high water mark of the American middle class.
Thereafter, rising globalization and competition would level (lower) the game, while US politicians would tax the middle class to extinction.  Decades later, they’re going,  “How’d this happen?”

I’m So Excited! - 2013 - Spain

I’m So Excited! - 2013 - 3/10
AKA - Los Amantes Pasajeros

 
Box reads: “FIRST-CLASS HILARITY!"
Balls.
Shockingly awful film.  Even more appalling / distressing, it was written & directed by Pedro Almodóvar, who had been on a career streak up to this gobbler.
Jet circles over Spain, owing to disabled landing gear, allowing alcohol guzzling crew and 1st Class passengers to confess sexual secrets.  For no apparent reason, stewards prance musical number.
Sexual bathroom humor, rampant homosexual stereotypes, not to mention a sequence where a female passenger rapes an unconscious male.  If genders were reversed, would it be so “funny”?
Benny Hill did this nudge-nudge, wink-wink nonsense 40 years ago.  Times and mores pass.
I ended up wondering if this reflects Spanish behavior and values.
Also knowing I had wasted of 90 minutes of my life.

Tunes For Tyrants: Music And Power - 2017 - UK

Tunes For Tyrants: Music And Power - 2017 - 6/10

 
Three part series of music / composers appropriated / exploited by despots.
Specifically, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, circa 1930's and 40's.
Living composers = R Strauss, Prokofiev, Shostakovich.  RIP = Beethoven, Wagner.
Doc references banned Jazz music, Vichy France, concentration camp bands, British composers.
Hit n miss, with the first two episodes the best.  Stalin disappears by E03.
No mention of Mussolini (Respighi), nor Mao Zedong and the spirited sing-alongs relished by happy cohorts.
Fine concept, weakened by lack of follow-through and insufficient material.

We Are The Night - 2010 - Germany

We Are The Night - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Wir Sind Die Nacht

 
Vampire tale, set in modern, neo-Weimar Berlin.
Throbbing nightclubs and blood cocktails.  Opulent production design worsens with the narrative.
The V word is never mentioned, by the way, and in this world, there are no male vampires.
The leader of the trio recruits a new member, who has trouble transitioning.
Story flows on a rockin’ pace, though characters don’t really “do” much aside from partying.
Boredom, ennui, debauchery punctuated by kills.  Sex implied, rather than graphic.
Very well cast - but - the English dub is godawful!  Shrill voice actors mar the tone.
So ...
If possible, find the FanEdit version by INH5,  (We Are The Night: Revamped).
German language (with English dub and editor commentary).
Deleted or unfinished scenes finished, enhanced and reinserted.  Also some new special effects.
Disclosure:  I was a key previewer for this edit, and often shared my thoughts with the faneditor.

The Barrier - 2020 - Spain

The Barrier - 2020 - 6/10
AKA  La Valla

After World War III, a new virus emerges.  Contagious and deadly.
There is no cure, and as scientists hurry to find a cure, society begins to break down.
In an unprecedented move, Spain turns to fascism.

 
After three episodes, this became a series I watched to hate.
Who are the scientists using as guinea pigs?  Innocent, wide-eyed children.
Our heroic core are stupid beyond belief.  Yelling at authority figures, disdaining rules.
While I hated the medical types, I started rooting for the military.
They seemed to be the lone civil authority in a city sliding into dystopia.
Series is one-dimensional, acting (from our heroes) is over the top.
For all that, this does conclude, with an ending I am comfortable with.

No, My Darling Daughter - 1961 - UK

No, My Darling Daughter - 1961 - 6/10

 
Fairy tale of bubbly daughter to super rich investor father.
He wants to send her to Paris for finishing, she wants to remain in school.
Instead, she meets a visiting Yank and starts "living."  Sight-seeing, picnics, enjoying life.
You'd think that would suffice, yet everyone meddles and assumes.
Brisk light comedy chirps merrily along, and it is interesting to see pre Swinging London (though everyone involved in privileged beyond belief).
Although the conclusion was "all's well that ends well," I found it rather sad myself.

Star Trek: Prelude To Axanar - 2014 - USA

Star Trek: Prelude To Axanar - 2014 - 7/10

 
For the old guard, longing for Star Trek of yore, this was red meat.
Paramount had tolerated, even signed off on independent fan series for decades.Star Trek Continues, Starship Farragut, Star Trek: Phase II, , etc ...
Amateur productions in quality and talent.
Axanar, however, utilized actors and production members who had worked on legitimate Star Trek projects, as well as Battlestar Galactica.
The actual film would detail the Four Years War, the conflict between Federation and Klingon, set before the Kirk - Spock era.
This preliminary short floored the fanbase, and crowdfunding money poured in for the feature.
Paramount sued.  Were they terrified by real competition to their juvenile formula?
The short, despite budget constraints, is reverent, faithful to the series, and leaves one eager for more.
After a few years, Axanar, losing in litigation, was shut down.
What remains is the original "prelude," a tantalizing remnant of what might have been.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1_8IV8uhA

The Double Life Of Véronique - 1991 - France

The Double Life Of Véronique - 1991 - 7/10
AKA - La Double Vie de Véronique

 
Weronika has a gift.  A voice so radiant, ethereal, its purity leaves listeners breathless.
There is a price, though.  At times, near the peak of delirium, it hurts.
One afternoon, watching passengers board the bus, she sees her double.
Weronika stand there, spellbound, while the doppelganger on the bus does not see her.
In any other film, the narratives would begin to dovetail between Weronika and Véronique.
Not so here
At one point, one story ebbs and the other surges to prominence.
Véronique, a music teacher, appears to lead a less compelling life than Weronika.
Nonetheless, during a theatre performance, a side door opens.
The film is then an exploration of self-identity, awareness, what it is like to exist.
A haunting film, but not an easy film.  Director Kieślowski leaves some questions unanswered, others are opaque.
Different audiences will likely have different interpretations.
The mystery of Life, the ecstasy of the moment.

Ring Of Curse - 2011 - Japan

Ring Of Curse - 2011 - 6/10
AKA - Gomennasai  //  ごめんなさい

 
Another riff on the “grudge” theme, popular in J-films.
Setting is high school, and the usual tropes apply.
Popular girls bully the misfit.  Boys are props, standing around silently.  Adults = where?
Girls decide to produce the school play and coerce the brainy weirdo to write the script.
Unluckily for them, she knows select words to write, in precise order, to launch a death curse.
Not a bad film.  Better haunted schoolgirl movies are out there, but this is enjoyable enough and I watched this to the end bits past the credits.

Note:  The lone available English subs had timing errors and malformed spelling.
I corrected those, and uploaded - 

https://subscene.com/subtitles/ring-of-curse-gomennasai/english/850604

Wooden Overcoats: S01 - 2015 - UK

Wooden Overcoats: S01 - 2015 - 7/10

 
Goings on at the small isle of Piffling Vale.
Rudyard Funn owns the island's lone funeral home.
Contemptuous, short tempered, scornful, he gets away with shoddy people skills because there is no competition.
Until Chapman appears, starts his own funeral business with the slogan,  "Let's put the fun in funerals!"
Cocktails, gaiety, singalongs.  Business soars, at the expense of Funn Funerals.
Rudyard, who could be Basil Fawlty's long lost nephew, concocts schemes to undermine or destroy Chapman.
With about as much success as the Torquay proprietor would have.
Season One of this radio comedy is eight parts, with high production values.

Death On The Tyne - 2018 - UK

Death On The Tyne - 2018 - 5/10

 
The ladies enjoy duty-free shopping before the luxury liner sets sail.
From Newcastle to Amsterdam!
Unknown to all, a murderer is aboard.
Soon enough, crying time begins.
Oh, about a third of this is funny.  The bits with the three old birds, as well as the underutilized bridal party.
Tour operators Gemma and Terry drag the film with soggy chemistry, and inept dialogue (not their fault).
What could have been a sharp, funny satire on cruise ships is a tub of forced farce.
If silly is your comedy, heave ho.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - 2014 - UK

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - 2014 - 6/10

 
Sleepy, local radio station gets bought out by major broadcast chain.
Changes announced, staff “reassigned.”  One soul reacts poorly, however.
Hit and miss comedy, but misfires are rare.
Wicked satire of media culture in all its fake forms.
Steve Coogan effective as self-centered sleazebag who hurls everyone under the bus.

The Bridesmaid - 2004 - France

The Bridesmaid - 2004 - 6/10
AKA - La Demoiselle d'honneur

 
Manipulative Claude Chabrol film, based on dark Ruth Rendell novel.
At the wedding of his oldest sister, Philippe meets bridesmaid Senta.
Sparks ignite, and she soon engulfs Philippe, emotionally and physically.
Their time together is spent primarily in the basement of a dilapidated manor.
Senta is an actress, who worked with John Malkovich. Woody Allen, was a dancer, bummed around overseas.
Philippe's warning radar seldom goes off.  Even when he manages to question Senta, she disrobes or coaxes him back into her sheets again, distracting his tiny brain.
Viewers know something is wrong, and the movie is queasy road of deception and delusion.

The Queen Of Black Magic - 2019 - Indonesia

The Queen Of Black Magic - 2019 - 6/10
AKA - Ratu Ilmu Hitam

 
Not a remake, but inspired by the 1981 film.
At once busier, more modern (cellphones and followers), and less fun.
Three adult men return to the orphanage where they grew up, bringing their families.
Current orphans are on an outing, so the building is deserted save for caretakers and the dying founder.
One room is locked, has been for decades.
There is the story of Mirah, the woman who lost her bearings after earlier girls disappeared.
Terrors involve bugs, kids and the grudge.
Bugs, because onlookers scream at them, and lo, those open, inviting mouths.
Kids, I detest in Western films as they are only in feigned danger.  In Asian films, however …
Grudge, holding onto past wrongs instead of moving on, sheesh.
Cheap scares, a cobbled plot, yet this should be OK for late night insomniacs.

Like Someone In Love - 2012 - Japan

Like Someone In Love - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - ライク・サムワン・イン・ラブ

 
Another film by Abbas Kiarostami, though not as maddeningly provocative as Copie Conforme (Certified Copy).
Struggling female student, pretty (they are always pretty), earns needed income by visiting elder men.  *
Her procurer pushes her toward a particular client, while urging her to drop her possessive, suspicious boyfriend.
Film almost exclusively talk (Japanese), broken with quiet moments as characters do mundane tasks.
Restless viewers will rush for the volleyball channel after twenty minutes.
Everyone else will recognize the slow trainwreck, and still be unprepared for the ending.

*  I thought the casual co-ed hooker urban legend was an overused cliché.
Seen this plotline in way too many movies and TV shows.
Lo and behold, the local rag runs a story on a flock of pretty, neighborhood girls busted for solicitation.
All students at the most prestigious college in town, and a Christian one, at that.
They needed money for tuition, among other essentials.

Sound From The Deep - 2017 - Finland

Sound From The Deep - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Ett Läte ur Djupet

Time is running out for a geo-expedition hunting for gas in the Arctic Ocean.
Winter approaches, and the sea ice is thickening.
Then sonar picks up some sounds, so they steam deeper north.

 
One of the better Lovecraftian shorts out there.
The photography, sound, and direction are first class.
Despite naysayers, the actors seem to be professionals – not relatives of investors.

Note:  Available subtitles are computer generated.  I reworked those.
https://subscene.com/subtitles/sound-from-the-deep

Possession - 2002 - UK

Possession - 2002 - 7/10

Dovetailing, if unequal, stories of love, mystery, betrayal, and poetry.
One shimmers with intensity, the other is shallow.
A professor's research assistant finds a fragment of correspondence hidden within a reference book.
In the finest scholarly tradition, he simply takes it.
The fragment hints at a hitherto unknown relationship between a major Victorian poet and a lesser one.
Our learned thief enlists another scholar, and off they sally in quest of Truth.

 
The Victorian narrative is far more compelling, ravishing even.  The understatement is aching at times.
The scenery is wondrous, the wordplay exquisite.
Indeed, watching this leads one to bemoan what passes for conversation or correspondence nowadays.
The latter day story is glossy, vacuous and crude in comparison.

 
Our amateur sleuths (cast with an eye toward the American market) engage and behave as if they had wandered in off a teenage romantic comedy.
They delve into a richer past, perhaps their way of dealing with personal shortcomings, academic and emotional.
For lovers of language and Victorian costumers, this may be irresistible.
Just brace for the drop in IQ and EQ of the latter counterpart.

Library Wars - 2013 - Japan

Library Wars - 2013 - 4/10
AKA - Toshokan Senso // 図書館戦争

 
Opening sequence.  A bustling library, packed with readers and book lovers, is attacked by a squad of black suited, masked men, toting machine guns and flame throwers.
Library staff massacred, patrons killed, 600,000 books go up in flames.
The government then clamps down on obscenity, hate books, controversial books.
Banned works that give readers unacceptable thoughts:  horror, murder, politics, violence ...
Who can save the books?  The Library Defense Force is created, to stand against media censors!
Silly, far-fetched nonsense, based on popular manga, dawdles at length over fresh scrubbed recruit.
Amidst juvenile lulls, extended gun battles between the LDF and armies in riot gear devastate collections.
Preposterous beyond words.  People reading physical books.  Ha!  Reporters hustling to print EXTRAS!
No mention of cloud storage, filehosts, downloading, digital copies (one ref to ebooks).
Wooden-faced actors play this dead serious, with lots of yawn inducing speechifying, and self sacrifice.
Fireman Montag is missing here.