Richard III - 1995 - UK

Richard III - 1995 - 7/10

 
Thrilling adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.
Here, England is transformed into a fascist monarchy.
As if Oswald Mosley had led a successful coup.
Richard is low on the ladder to claim the throne.
One by one, those ahead of him began departing this world.
Ian McKellen spellbinding as the smiling, gracious, treacherous usurper.
For those who think they are allergic to the bard, give this blood soaked film a look.

Midnight - 1939 - USA

Midnight - 1939 - 7/10

 
Crackling screwball comedy finds showgirl being used by a rich man.
The older man’s wife is cheating, so he decides “what’s good for the goose …”
Meanwhile, there is a cabbie who had befriended the showgirl, who starts searching.
Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, lead a large casts of names.
The plot I gave is bare bones, as it is packed with comic twists and turns.
Pacing in this is terrific, along with the jokes, visual gags, one-liners.
One of the best screwball comedies, and sadly, pretty much overlooked.

The Shallows - 2016 - USA

The Shallows - 2016 - 7/10

 
Darned good shark chomper.  (I live with shark fans so I get force-fed shark films a lot.)
Surfer girl makes her way to very obscure beach in Mexico.  Friends bailed, so she is alone.
Even though she meets a pair of other surfers, she watches them depart as she desires one last ride.
Then the shark arrives, and hers becomes a battle for survival.
And don’t assume ole sharky will let her catch a wave to shore.  No way.
Slow buildup leads to a nail biter the rest of the way.
The ending seems to have one scene too many.
Atmospheric, lingering photography.

Roosevelt Game - 2014 - Japan

Roosevelt Game - 2014 - 8/10
AKA - Ruzuveruto Gemu // ルーズヴェルト・ゲーム

 
Nine innings J-dorama, set in the corporate boardroom, in the research lab, and on the diamond.
Small manufacturing firm finds itself under serious attack by king sized competitor.
The larger outfit has deep pockets, and they launch every trick in the book to destroy the smaller group.
To add insult to injury, the big guys even poach three top players and coach from the small firm’s baseball team.
(Footnote - Corporations in Japan sponsor their own teams, have a season, and a tournament.)
To save money, the small firm initiates layoffs and decides to shutter the baseball club.
They compromise, however, and the team will be disbanded only after they lose in the playoffs.

 
Bet you can see where this is heading?  Well, not exactly.
In the best tradition of J-doramas, the villains are wicked, sinister types.
But they are not stupid.  In the ballpark, or in the boardroom, they are crafty and intelligent.
They countermove every tack the smaller electronics firm attempts to stay alive.
An addicting, nine episode series, with the battles played across multiple fronts.
Of course, the ball teams will square off eventually.

Enjoyed this greatly, and I truly despise baseball, specifically overpaid, MLB players who give the impression they don’t even like playing the game, disdain fans who root them on.
The games in this are old-fashioned, and the players earn next to nothing, so they play for love of the game.
Baseball fans, track this down!

The Making Of A Man - 1911 - USA

The Making Of A Man - 1911 - 5/10

The acting troupe makes a whistle-stop in a small town.
And the lead actor makes an impression on a star struck girl.
So much so, that before you know it, they are hitched.

 
“Yes, I have the license here, so … what … she’s how old?”
True love is crushed again.  Only then, nine months later, whoops!
Decent Biograph melodrama has little to do with “the man” and more with the girl (15 year old Blanche Sweet).
An early silent, I suspect most of actors had toured theatrically for years and knew this tale too well.

Look Back In Anger - 1989 - UK

Look Back In Anger - 1989 - 6/10

 
Jimmy, educated working class, runs a sweets shop and lives in a cheap attic flat with his wife.
His wife, Helena, middle class, with better family, friends and connections, endures his tirades.
And my God, what tirades they are!
The self-satisfied middle class (of which he is not a member), Helena’s family, the newspaper, church bells.
On and on, though increasingly, he unleashes his fury onto his wife, a passive, stoical doormat.
This is a one set play, and Kenneth Branagh’s Jimmy is a resentful, hate spewing force.
While well acted, Jimmy’s wallowing pity party grows tedious at times.

Flux Gourmet - 2022 - UK

Flux Gourmet - 2022 - 7/10

 
Stop!  Many movie sites list this under the Horror genre.  It is not.
This is a stinging, often hilarious satire on performance artists and culinary shows, with gory elements.
It is also a Peter Strickland film, arthouse territory with mannered dialogue that skitters across the dining table.
In short, Elle is the frontman, the food performer, with her two “Sonic Caterers”.
They are in residence at the (unnamed) Institute for a month, honing their art, despite administrative interference.
Many cast members from In Fabric (2019) are here again, and that film approximates Aickman or Ligotti, meaning strange.  Not visceral gore.
With this director, I would suggest viewing Berberian Sound Studio (2012) first, which hews closer to horror.
Strickland is an auteur whose films are cult now, but will gain in stature over time.

Shakespeare On Stage, Screen And Elsewhere - 2016 - UK

Shakespeare On Stage, Screen And Elsewhere - 2016 - 7/10

 
Part of 2016‘s Shakespeare Lives celebration across Britain.
I thought this would be a film survey, but it is actually a lecture by Ian McKellen.
Personal memoir, anecdotes of productions, bios of bygone actors.
As well as the conspiracy theory of questionable authorship - which McKellen does not subscribe to.
Knowledgeable audience had apparently seen many of the lesser known works.
McKellen, a cheerful raconteur, frequently pauses to find his thought.
Impatient or multi-tasked souls may glance at the exits.

Last And First Men - 2020 - Iceland

Last And First Men - 2020 - 7/10

Text by Olaf Stapledon, images from Yugoslav memorials.
From the far future, 2000 million years from now, surviving humanity tries to contact us.
As the sun expanded, the populace relocated to Neptune.
Dwellings are twenty or more miles at the base, and tower into and above the atmosphere.

 
Humans evolve beyond recognition.
Some exist in a group mind, others, far-flung, are navigators.
Others pass through diverse time frames, akin to what, non-Euclidean time?
Their collected voice reaches out because they want to help, and because they need help.

 
Stimulating and challenging fare, the first (and last) by Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Arthouse SciFi, those familiar with Lovecraft’s cosmic scale will appreciate.

Tokyo Fiancée - 2014 - Belgium

Tokyo Fiancée - 2014 - 6/10

 
20 year old Belgium girl moves to Tokyo and offers to teach French lessons.
She gets one client, a male her own age, who seems to speak French passably well.
Nonetheless, money is money and they meet weekly.
Sparks don’t exactly fly as both seem to suffer cultural misperceptions of each other.
He introduces her to friends as his fiancée, she is convinced he is Yakuza.
Story winds in unpredictable directions and often dead-ends.
Several scenes were, perhaps, symbolic, except I was unable to comprehend their meaning.

Straight Outta Compton - 2016 - USA

Straight Outta Compton - 2016 - 7/10

 
Rousing biopic of badboy rappers, N.W.A.
Standard tale of friends forming a band, hitting the big time, then the money fights.
Focus is on Eazy, Cube and Dre, and the latter seems to have been smoothed a shade.
Not too many liberties taken, though my knowledge is basic at best.
I checked for inaccuracies later and found minor, aside from Heller’s litany.
Should appeal to the mainstream despite expletives, weed use, nudity, coochie poppin ...
By a quirk of casting, Paul Giamatti plays NWA’s shifty manager.  Soon as I saw him I hollered,  “Look out guys!  That’s Dr Landy.  He fleeced Brian Wilson  ("Love And Mercy").  Look out!”
Oddly enough, I found myself giving footnotes to innocents around me.  “What does OG mean?”  “Who is Suge Knight?”
I watched the extended cut, almost three hours, and it never dragged.

Munkie - 2021 - New Zealand

Munkie - 2021 - 6/10

 
22 year old Rose still lives with her strict, controlling parents.
They disapprove of her “bad” boyfriend and lock her inside their home.
Growing more furious by the minute, Rose and boyfriend target the obstacles.
Slow burn crime story, based on Jennifer Pan, a Vietnamese-Canadian girl.
Think Kristi Koslow, or Alyssa Hatcher, or Jasmine Richardson, or Nina Holbrook, or Esmie Tseng …
One note short should stir resentful teen viewers.

Werckmeister Harmonies - 2000 - Hungary

Werckmeister Harmonies - 2000 - 7/10
AKA - Werckmeister Harmóniák

 
We follow our narrator / observer Janos around his village as a circus sideshow arrives.
The "show" consists of the carcass of a massive, stuffed whale, and an unseen ”Prince.”
Townfolk mill around, grumbling, discontent rising into fiery destruction.
I do not know my Hungarian history, but I will wander out on a limb and guess the whale represents a regime of sorts, and the Prince is a puppet figurehead.
Much of the conflict, late in the film, reminded me of the Bosnian War in the 1990’s.
Then there is Janos’ uncle, a creative soul (the intelligentsia) and the estranged aunt (the deal maker of rebellion).
A very heady film, where I was baffled numerous times, but never lost interest.

In the Name Of My Daughter - 2014 - France

In the Name Of My Daughter - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - L'homme qu'on Aimait Trop

 
Catherine Deneuve struggles to hold onto a high end casino, circa 1976.
Local politicos and developers would like her to close, so they can build luxury hotels.
A mega casino combine - who launders money for the mob - wants to push her out.
Her daughter returns after a messy divorce, demanding her inheritance.
Gliding, slithering, shifting between all parties is a young, smiling attorney.
Loosely based on real events, the film coils around the players, none of whom are truly clean.
Talky French drama, with nebulous resolution, had me wondering about double jeopardy in France.

Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse - 1991 - USA

Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse - 1991 - 8/10

 
Documentary on the making of Apocalypse Now (1979).
Watching this, it’s a wonder how films, especially large extraordinary films, ever get made.
Script problems, blown budgets, actors (eg: Brando).
Location shooting, a heart attack (Sheen), constant studio meddling.
What is spectacular is how much private film footage was shot and assembled for this.
Typically, what we get are laughfests from players reminiscing how much fun things were.
This romps behind-the-scenes of massive creative egos, battles, waste.

The Last Bus - 2021 - UK

The Last Bus - 2021 - 6/10

 
Likeable crowd pleaser should ring with the geriatric set.
Thomas sets off from Scotland for Lands End by bus.  Make that buses.
Tom travels light:  briefcase, some currency, Scotland transit pass.
Along the way we glimpse slices of his history, his wife and child.
Not much, though.  Very little.  Yet enough to realize his is the classic road trip.
15-20 minutes in, I suspect what is in his briefcase, and so will you.
The film panders to a nonexistent world, where young onlookers are mostly quiet and respectful and curious.
It is also WOKE informed, which I shrug at (woke folk aren’t going to watch this, anyway).
As in Mr. Turner (2014), Timothy Spall sports a frowning pout much of the time.
A tired crutch, and Spall is a better actor than this.

Houdini & Doyle - 2016 - UK

Houdini & Doyle - 2016 - 6/10

 
Escape artist and Sherlock creator solve crimes along with a female Scotland Yard inspector.
Fun, but not remotely historically accurate.
Doyle and Houdini have ongoing disputes over spiritualism, some episodes are borderline absurd, and the parade of “guests" grows strange, indeed.
Fans of Murdoch Mysteries ought to enjoy as H & D strongly resembles that show.
On the plus side, this series seems to be a one-off.  If only more shows were thus.