Possessor - 2020 - Canada

Possessor - 2020 - 6/10

 
Near future SciFi of espionage, mind control, assassination.
After the hack crew implants a teammate’s consciousness into the victim’s brain, the body is now a killing machine.
Apparently there is a “bleed-thru”.  Suspected by the crew, but not addressed.
That was one of the problems I had.
Hallucinatory visuals look old school (not CGI) and are enjoyable.
Ruttings and gory violence throughout.
Midway, I felt the story beginning to loop.
I kept waiting for a fresh element.  Particularly, defense.
Firewall, poison pill, malware detection, counter implant.  No, nothing like that.
Nicely done, but seek out Predestination (2014) afterward.

Blonde Crazy - 1931 - USA

Blonde Crazy - 1931 - 6/10

 
Jimmy Cagney hooks up with Joan Blondell, and they move from the small burg to a great midwest city to New York.
Plying the old badger game on rich fools, easily distracted by rolled stockings and perfume.
Cagney plays his usual brash, lecherous male, leering at a bevy of bottled blondes.
Cynical tone undercuts the comedy, and the romance angles are guarded on all sides.
At its heart, a grim journey as stakes and consequences mount with each outing.

Night Train To Munich - 1940 - UK

Night Train To Munich - 1940 - 6/10

 
Brisk paced, cozy, espionage spy thriller.
Czech inventor of new armor plating for steel flees to England once Nazis invade Czechoslovakia.
By clever means, the Nazis hijack him back and Rex Harrison volunteers to return the favor.
Same writers for Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, the same setting - a train, leading lady Margaret Lockwood, as well as old boy toffs, Caldicott and Charters.

 
Breezy, cat ‘n mouse chase, with Nazis portrayed as easily duped, lightweight villains.
As World War II progressed, their roles would darken considerably.

Call My Agent: S02 - 2017 - France

Call My Agent: S02 - 2017 - 5/10
AKA - Dix Pour Cent: S02

 
Second season of theatrical agents suffers from "more-itis."
A new colleague, who is a caricature of the meddling owner.
More comedy, the farcical sort.  More sexual encounters.
More recognizable cameos for potential US viewers (Christoph Lambert, Fabrice Luchini, Isabelle Adjani, Juliette Binoche).
Unfortunately, all this more adds up to less.
The writers and producers lost the thread with this second season, as characters behave stupidly to self destruction.
A pity, as the first season boasted a lot of charm and was a novel concept, smartly carried off.

 
OK, if you simply must view this season, episode 05 is the best installment.
Guy Marchand suffers a mini stroke early in shooting and the production is in jeopardy.
With a mere trifle of a part, perhaps ten minutes screen time, Marchard infuses his role with confusion, bonhomie, loneliness, regret, hope.
It is spellbinding to watch an extraordinary actor fashion gold from expressions.
The rest of S02 is a huge letdown, but S02E05 is a gift for those who adore French cinema.

Afterword.  Long after I had lost interest, this show became trendy with US binge watchers..

Predestination - 2014 - Australia

Predestination - 2014 - 8/10

 
High concept, Kafkaesque, puzzle plot, brilliantly executed.
Ethan Hawke plays time traveling, Temporal Agent.
His duties are to stop mass murders, terrorist bombings.
For health reasons, agents can only jump in time so often.
Hawke is near retirement and draws out a potential candidate.
Only the candidate has a history of kinks and twists, and therein hangs the tale.
Based on a story by Robert Heinlein.
The script is flawless, the direction taut and lean.  Not a single scene is wasted.
Try to watch without reading too much about this one.
Most reviews will be unable to resist spoilers.

Call My Agent: S01 - 2015 - France

Call My Agent: S01 - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Dix Pour Cent

 
Brief mini-series about stressed film agents and demanding clients.
Ones liking may depend on tolerance for actors and affinity for French fare.
Story revolves around four agents trying to keep company afloat.
A gallery of French stars fill the guest roles..
Funny, exasperating, infuriating.
Viewers who expect tidy resolutions and explanations, beware.

Autumn Tale - 1998 - France

Autumn Tale  - 1998 - 8/10
AKA - Conte d'Automne

 
Possibly my favorite of all Éric Rohmer films.
Well meaning Isabelle decides to match-make for friend, Magali, a 45 year old widow.
Isabelle places an advert, then interviews respondents.
From there, a series of misinterpretations and miscommunications ensue.
Magali is a wine grower and much of the photography lingers on her lush vineyards or the small village.
Autumn refers to the season and age of the characters.
A multi-layered story of loneliness, diverting trajectories, emotional messiness, and hope.
For those who believe older adults still have the second chance.

Underworld U.S.A. - 1961 - USA

Underworld U.S.A. - 1961 - 7/10

 
Murderous Noir that came out at the very end of the Noir cycle.
Early on, a young boy watches his father beaten to death by four thugs.
Twenty years later, the grown boy, now a hardened criminal, targets his father’s killers, bigwigs in the Syndicate.
How this passed the Production Code is beyond me.  Crossed a lot of lines, up to and including #14, cruelty to children.

I hunted this down because Samuel Fuller directed and Beatrice Kay played Robertson’s mother figure.
Kay, an acquired taste, did much to keep alive Gay 90’s music and vintage Music Hall, not treating songs as crystal relics, but as naughty, salacious, roisterous turns.

Wolf Creek: S02 - 2017 - Australia

Wolf Creek:  S02 - 2017 - 6/10

 
As with the theatrical releases, the second season of serial killing is mixed.
This time out, Mick Taylor hijacks a bus full of turistas.
Where does he take them?  Where do you think?
A busload equates to more meals, yet also less Mick.
The writing team fails to concoct an ingenious narrative, and promising adversaries are underutilized.
Initial episodes are solid, last two brim with tension and twists.
In-between those, characters muddle along and talk and talk.
Disappointing.  Nevertheless, Mick is hard to kill and it appears he shall return.

Architecture Of Doom - 1989 - Sweden

Architecture Of Doom - 1989 - 8/10

 
Curious documentary of the Third Reich dominated by artistic and aesthetic components.
How many of the party leaders were unsuccessful writers, poets, painters, etc ...
The aim of the Party was to rebuild the nation on a vast scale.
Major exhibitions were shown of idealistic representative art and massive civic improvements.
Second half switches from city layouts to body perfection.  Eugenics.
Which leads to the systematic obliteration of "flawed humanity" via extermination camps.
I cannot say I concur with many of the arguments as presented, yet the take is provocative.
No mention, by the way, of Lebensraum.
No talking heads, just dry narration.  Arresting visuals.
Difficult to make up my mind about this.  Each time I rewatch, I have raised my score.

Snake Dick - 2020 - USA

Snake Dick - 2020 - 6/10

 
No, not interspecies porn.
Unfortunately, the girls’ car starts to break down in desert oblivion.
Luckily, they are able to coast into a well-lit diner/gas station/motel parking lot.
Unluckily, two redneck goobers start to heckle and offer lewd suggestions.
Conflict escalates.
One might envision a studio flunky thinking this coulda made a feature.
As a short this is funny, mean-spirited, confrontational, and has a wicked bite.

Grabbers - 2012 - Ireland

Grabbers - 2012 - 5/10

 
Irish horror comedy set on remote island facing big storm.
Just in time for an alien invasion!
Giant octopods attack boats, devour pilot whales, then clamber ashore.
Next dinner course, tasty humans, though it spits out those crunchy heads.
Apparently the big squids suffer alcohol allergies, which village inhabitants discover.
Expect serious drinking.
Not as gory as it could have been, and certainly not as funny as it should have been.
Wasted opportunity.  That said, should you drink as heavily as the characters, your enjoyment may improve.

30 Coins - 2020 - Spain

30 Coins - 2020 - 7/10
AKA - 30 Monedas

 
Shepherds assemble in a tiny village, supplicants to the new invocation.
Wait, getting ahead of myself here.
Before this, the village experiences all manner of unexplained doings.
Miracles, resurrections, bloody dismemberment, a wild series of escalating cataclysms.
Hold on, back up even further.
This series launches with a crackling heist, followed by a cow giving birth to a human infant.
We meet the priest, who is an ex-convict, owing to an exorcism turning into death rites.
What else?  Possession, the fetish, the insectoid?  This is only the FIRST episode!
You know when shows front load the works in E01, then the next installments stagger?
Not here!  Writers have a shelf of ideas and the series goes from one outrageous strength to another.
From opening credits to the close, the writers and producers pour it on, visuals, locations, faith and action.
This may resonate more with Catholics, lapsed Catholics, even those who snoozed during Sunday school.

Belinda And Me - 2014 - France

Belinda And Me - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Belinda et Moi

Older woman's partner dies and their piano cafe closes, the lease expires.
She intends to move out, but what to do about the piano?
Oh!  Give to Jean, the nephew, promising student, and angelic little boy.
Jean arrives, employment skills limited to after hours park work, poor cosmetic technique.
And he prefers to be called Belinda.

 
Once unconventional subject has become mainstream.  No edge here.
That said, the narrative stays fresh with plot shifts, unexpected characters.
Belinda is not a sympathetic soul, but one roots for her after awhile.
OK French TV film.

Incendies - 2011 - Canada

Incendies - 2011 - 7/10

 
The notary addresses the twins (male and female) during the reading of their mother’s last will and testament.
The girl is given an envelope to give to their father.  What father?  Mom had always been the lone parent.
The son is given an envelope to give to their brother.  Brother?  What brother?
The children leave Canada and head toward their mother’s birthplace.  Lebanon.
And begin to unravel who their mother truly was.
In the 70’s, Lebanon succumbed to a brutal civil war between Christians and Muslims.
Dual storylines of the orphans following threads, learning of horrors, mixed with their mother’s youthful journey away from fire and death and unfinished promises.
Violence, murders, torture, and dark revelations set the tone.

Confessions Of An Opium Eater - 1962 - USA

Confessions Of An Opium Eater - 1962 - 6/10
AKA - Souls For Sale

 
Strange, cult gem, set in 1902 San Francisco.
Gilbert De Quincey (Vincent Price) gets involved in Tong wars, slave trafficking, opium dens.
Price seems to work for one side, then the other, while beautiful girls hang suspended inside bamboo cages, waiting to be bartered for opium bricks.
Exteriors shrouded with fog to disguise minimal sets, though the entire film has a dreamy (drugged) quality.
Secret tunnels, subterranean waterways, trick doors add to the maze vibe.
Movie filled with fortune cookie dialogue:
“The more we approach our enemies the more they think of us as lambs.”
“The superior man blames himself, the inferior man blames others.”
“There is not poison in a green snake’s mouth, as in a woman’s heart.”
“The path of righteousness lies around us, for the eye that will see and the foot that will follow.”

The Ritual - 2017 - UK

The Ritual - 2017 - 5/10

 
Five mates plan their annual travel excursion.
Oops, make that four following an early tragedy.
Soft city lads, they opt for a stiff hike through Sweden's wilderness.
Photography is moody, stark, disorienting.  The guys are equally moody, dense and confused.
Prime example:  "If we take a shortcut through the woods we can save time."
No no no!  Do not take shortcuts, especially if your knowledge of outdoors is zilch.
Mistakes mount, compound, and you realize these unsympathetic louts are too dim to care about.
The plot staggers into lore territory, and that feels shoe-horned.  Kitchen sink mentality.
Disappointing adaptation of Adam Nevill's book.
Confession:  I grew up in a mountain region and hiked backwoods all the time.
I have limited patience with these bozos who make blunders an eight year old would avoid.

Seasons Of Love - 2012 - France

Seasons Of Love - 2012 - 6/10
AKA - Climats

Philippe meets Odile, falls in love, and impulsively marries her.
She is Parisian, he is more rural.  She is artistic, he runs a paper manufacturer.
Odile is self-assured, on the surface.  Philippe is insecure, and not steeped in culture.
Moreover, Philippe’s family, especially his mother, wants grandchildren, heirs.

 
Fairly timeless story, though this runs from 1934-1939.  Historians know what looms on the horizon.
Detailed eye for costumes, interiors.  Provincial attitudes, jealousy, implausible explanations.
Excellent supporting characters.  Philippe’s world wise aunt, Odile’s “retired” father, as well as the two females who flit though the couple’s shadow, Misa and Isabelle.

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex - 2008 - Germany

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex - 2008 - 7/10

After reading about the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army), and what a group of amateurs they were, I dug this out.

Baader Meinhof follows the genesis of the gang from 60's student protesters, and their radicalization into the  RAF (Red Army Faction) following brutal police crackdowns.

 
During the bloody 70's, the RAF robbed banks to raise funds, bombed police stations and US military bases in Germany, assassinated prosecutors, bankers, ex Nazi businessmen, killing at least 34.

 
Film captures all that, including public sympathy for the RAF, political maneuvering to crush the members, the growth of second and third generation members after incarceration of the leaders, and continued terror into the 90's.
Violent, gory history lesson, upsetting the delusion the 60's was all peace, love and understanding.

Shinobi no Shu - 1970 - Japan

Shinobi no Shu - 1970 - 7/10
AKA - Mission: Iron Castle  //  忍びの衆

 
Quite late in the ninja cycle, and one of the best.
A small band of ninjas are told to kidnap a princess from the impregnable Iron Castle.
Not only is the castle fortified with 3000 soldiers, the princess is kept locked in a sealed iron room.
The action scenes are well choreographed, techniques mostly quiet.
Planning scenes illustrate later movements which are realistic and usually in a how-to style.
The small group are well drawn.  Competitiveness, resentments, stifled longings.
Camerawork is imaginative, often from the observer’s point of view.

The Belko Experiment - 2016 - USA

The Belko Experiment - 2016 - 5/10

 
High rise office locks down and the omniscient voice orders employees to start killing.
Or else the chip in your neck will -- Kabang!
Deadlines are given, as well as body count targets.
Fine characterizations with villains you loathe, ethical negotiators, faceless expendables.
Story itself is derivative and predictable.
As with countless other survivor films, There Can Be Only One.
These office drones never figure that out.