Atomic Rulers - 1965 - Japan

Atomic Rulers - 1965 - 4/10

 
Ghastly.  Shockingly bad.  Terrible, in fact, although this exudes an innocent charm.
Starman is dispatched from Planet Emerald to protect Earth from nuclear weapon bullies from Metropol.
Starman, the definition of a 98 lb weakling, has super strength and wallops baddies without a sweat.
Sets appear to be wobbly cardboard, costumes pajamas (what today’s superheroes wear).
This was originally a 50’s children’s serial, which American distributors recut into four movies.
Three films followed.  Equal standing all.  Ridiculous.
I must confess to seeing this originally in the late 60’s.  Then again at stoned movie houses in the 70’s.
Silly as this one is, it is superior to any Prince Of Space outing.

Written On The Wind - 1956 - USA

Written On The Wind - 1956 - 7/10

 
Friends Mitch and Kyle both fall for Lucy.  Mitch, poor yet honest, Kyle a rich alcoholic.
Who will she pick?  Ha!  $$$ beats L-0-V-E, suckers.
But wait!  Kyle also has a scheming, sex kitten sister, of easy disposition, who desperately wants Mitch.
Wonderful, trashy melodrama, packed with guilt, toxicity, schemes.
Sumptuous production values, florid cinematography.
For anyone curious about director Douglas Sirk, this is the film to watch.
100% soaper, but heavenly to take in.

Crimes And Misdemeanors - 1989 - UK

Crimes And Misdemeanors - 1989 - 7/10

 
Eye specialist Judah has a successful practice, community esteem, strong marriage, and a mistress.
A mistress who is a headcase, demanding he get a divorce and marry her.
Who is unafraid to reveal all to his wife, thereby wrecking his life.
Concurrent with this is the story of a small documentary maker, Cliff.
Actually, he is a failure, and forced to work for a rival, a highly successful one.
Both step down the path of transgression.  One major, one petty.
I know a lot of Allen fans view this as one of his finest.
For me, this is the precursor to Match Point, which is my favorite Allen.

Sleuth - 1972 - UK

Sleuth - 1972 - 8/10

 
Brilliant adaptation of the Shaffer play.
Wife’s lover approaches the successful writer husband, asking if he will divorce her.
The old lion seems agreeable, but he is a game player.
He wants to keep his fortune away from one he views as a fortune hunter.
The young stud, well, all he wants is the trophy wife, right?
Then the games, the traps, the countermoves.
For a play, and this smacks of boards at times, this bristles with electricity.
Olivier is marvelous, yet Caine holds his own in this exceptional thriller.

Fairy Tale: A True Story - 1997 - UK

Fairy Tale: A True Story - 1997 - 7/10

 
In 1917, two little girls manage to take photographs of actual woodland fairies.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are among the believers, while friend Harry Houdini remains skeptical.
As the fame increases, sightseers flood in droves, followed by reporters.
Lushly photographed, with a keen period eye.
For non-Edwardian fans, there was almost a mania of Fairy sightings during that time.
Perhaps society was longing for a simpler, more innocent past, as the Great War crushed along.
Wistful tale and ideal family fare.

Kinpika - 2016 - Japan

Kinpika - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - きんぴか

 
What do a yakuza enforcer, recently released from prison, a disgraced political aspirant, and a discharged combat soldier have in common?
Give up?  Yeah, well, nothing.
Except a retired police commissioner puts the trio together, gives them swank digs, and lets them right wrongs.
Guts, muscles and brains.  Age-old premise of the mismatched unit bonding.
Slick, stylish, empty headed.
At five episodes, this is worth a watch, streaming easily through into eyes and out the back of your skull.

Highlander II - 1991 - UK

Highlander II - 1991 - 5/10

 
One of the nuttier sequels I have watched.
In fact, after watching, few would have predicted a subsequent TV series, or the enduring popularity.
Connor MacLeod, now a frail elder, saved the Earth (and billions of ingrates) with some solar magnetic shield.
He’s waiting for the Reaper, until, outta nowhere, other Immortals appear and voilà!  The quickening!
Oh yeah, that quickening thing.  Shoulda put it in the title, except it is beyond stupid.
Quickening means MacLeod’s youth is restored so he can engage in more swordfights.
Sean Connery – why is he in this – plays a Spanish aristocrat.
The narrative is an insane jumble of concepts and lacks cohesion, as well as sense.
As if the headhunting cakewalk ever made sense.
Very bad film, atrocious.  Guilty pleasure.

This Island Earth - 1955 - USA

This Island Earth - 1955 - 5/10

 
Aliens enlist unknowing Earth scientists to help in their eternal struggle with other aliens.  
Talk, talk, talk, amidst spacious sets, and a slow moving giant potato bug.
Saw this as a kid, thought it was lame.
Saw it later in the 70’s, part of a 3D festival.  Audience, and me, hopelessly stoned, all laughed.
Now .. Why?  Why did I watch again?  Why do some consider this turkey a classic?
I did think of one thing:  In any conflict between two advanced civilizations, DO NOT GET INVOLVED.
Whether on distant Metaluna, or an argument between China and Russia, keep far away.

The Rat Pack - 1998 - USA

The Rat Pack - 1998 - 6/10

 
Retelling of Sinatra and coterie at their final peak, early 60’s, before the British Invasion, before the Boomers began their cultural ascendancy.
This is all very Vegasy, with plenty of behind the scenes shenanigans to pleasure voyeurs.
Tittle tattle, rumors, gossip, stories that have been massaged over the ensuing decades.
Joe Montegna stands out as Dean Martin.  (Talk at the time said he would get his own Martin biopic.)
Don Cheadle also memorable as a conflicted Sammy Davis Jr.
I suspect the less you know about this crew, the more you may enjoy.

The Mezzotint - 2021 - UK

The Mezzotint - 2021 - 7/10

 
Annual ghost story is several notches above recent outings.
Eerie, rather creepy, yet faithful adaptation of the M. R. James classic story.
Williams, college art curator cum connoisseur, accepts a peculiar print on approval.
The print, of limited artistic value, shows a manor house at moonlight.
That was initially, until the image started altering.
Colleagues and neighbors are baffled, and it strikes a dissonant chord.
Excellent method of hints, suggestion, the half-glimpsed, to evoke unease.
Leading to worse.

Framed - 1947 - USA

Framed - 1947 - 6/10

Paula spots him as soon as he enters the cafe.
Right height, weight, body size.  The perfect double, the future patsy.
Paula, the blonde waitress, contacts her boyfriend, a banker, and they start the setup.

 
So-so Noir suffers from being underwritten, and half delivered.
Glenn Ford sleepwalks his role.  To be fair, his character is nothing more than a once-mining engineer, now penniless drifter.
Barry Sullivan better as the cold and cynical banker.
Best is Janis Carter, who never climbed beyond B-roles.
Her Paula is an angelic faced fatale, her every single decision an opportunistic calculation.

With Beauty And Sorrow - 1965 - Japan

With Beauty And Sorrow - 1965 - 7/10
AKA - Utsukushisa to kanashimi to //  美しさと哀しみと

Ōki had a fling with Otoko.  He was married, with a son, she was sixteen.
Pregnancy, she lost the baby, then was institutionized for depression.
Fifteen years on, now a famous writer, he decides to visit.
Otoko is a renowned painter and teacher, with devoted clique of pupils.
One of whom, Keiko, is more than a pupil, but Otoko’s lover.
She also bristles that Ōki was never punished, never suffered, and decides to exact vengeance.

 
Understated psychological thriller simmers and is a tense study in motives and emotions.
The successful, dismissive male.  The quashed soul who leads a quiet life, and her calculating, volcanic mate.
Wintry colors are subdued, matching the outward expressions.
The overt lesbian relationship is striking for 1965.