The Pale Blue Eye - 2022 - USA

The Pale Blue Eye - 2022 - 6/10

 
A cadet has hung himself at newly established West Point.
Worse, while waiting for burial, his heart has been cut out.
A “retired” inspector is asked to investigate and solve this before the politicians try to close the academy.
No evidence, no witnesses.  Only a fey, Southern cadet offers odd assistance and speculations.
E. A. Poe.
Knowing Poe is in this leads one to wonder whether this will go the detective route or supernatural.
Darkly photographed, with a gallery of talent, including Robert Duvall,
Engrossing most of the way, although afterward one may realize how tenuous the script had been.

The Other One - 1946 - Mexico

The Other One - 1946 - 6/10
AKA - La Otra

 
Good sister Maria confronts twin, Magdalena, about propriety.
Mind you, goody Maria is poor, lowly paid, while her sister knows how to exploit her assets, as well as men.
One belittlement too many, and Maria impulsively switches places.  Permanently.
Not knowing of the corrupt skeletons in her tramp sister’s closet.
Mexican Noir of stolen identity has a great Dolores Del Rio shifting from mousy to seductress.
Melodramatic here and there, compensated with fantastic lighting and surprise twists.

Execution Squad - 1972 - Italy

Execution Squad - 1972 - 6/10
AKA - La polizia ringrazia

 
Oops, sorry!  I forget this robber, this murderer, this predator – has rights!
Not that even capturing criminals matters.
The press screams police brutality, guilty claim they were bed-wetters and can’t be blamed, or they have expensive lawyers.
Roma is besieged as laws protect criminals, not victims.
Until a private team, the “clean-up squad”, starts dispensing lethal justice where the courts have failed.
Citizens are thrilled, others recall the era of fascism.
Euro-Crime poliziotesschi is intelligent, yet talky.  Bloody and cynical.

The Spy’s Wife - 1972 - UK

The Spy’s Wife - 1972 - 5/10

 
“Off on a new mission, are we, dear?  Do be careful.”
And as soon as her espionage husband is away, the lover arrives and they begin checking for bugs.
Meanwhile, agent hubby is also going under covers.
Snide English comedy of anxiety and adultery.
Despite the nudge-nudge wink-wink premise, this manages to be dull.

Everything You Know Is Wrong - 1975 - USA

Everything You Know Is Wrong - 1975 - 5/10

 
Filmed “adaptation” of a comedy album by the Firesign Theatre,
Scattershot ramble through a minefield of ideas, speculations, fantasies.
Canines in space, UFO’s, the comet Kohoutek, grief I don’t know.
The troupe lip-syncs their original LP, visuals are cheap.
I saw this with a stoned out crowd, myself included, and quickly wished I had taken Barbs instead.
Essentially a 1960’s ensemble, the Firesign Theatre was popular with acidheads in the day.
This recent revisit reminded me I never found them funny.
Still goes.  For archeologists.

The Tourist - 2022 - Australia

The Tourist - 2022 - 7/10

 
After a near fatal (and deliberate) car accident, the man wakes in the hospital.
Memory gone, only a scrap of paper indicating an appointment in a small town cafe.
Which he visits, and after he leaves the table where he had been explodes.
Assassins begin to crawl out.
Wide sweeping thriller packed with characters, both quietly memorable and larger than life, not to mention laugh out loud comic moments.
Throughout, you start weighing between coincidence and prearranged.  Or Fate!
Likewise, virtually every single character.
As in our day to day, what folks say and what they show, it ain’t necessarily so.
Terrific, well written short series.

The Revisionaries - 2012 - USA

The Revisionaries - 2012 - 6/10

 
Texas School Board hearings and elections.
What this small group decides is what goes into or is purged from textbooks.
Science textbooks.  “Creation” equates to evolution or intelligent design.
History textbooks, renaming slaves as “workers”.
One board member is up for reelection, and we follow him.  One does not even reside in Texas.
The impact is that what goes in Texas becomes the norm for the US.
Docked a point because this has dated.
I would like to impact is now diminished, since texts can now be pod (print on demand).
Yet, day after day, societies stumble into a new LCD.

Who Shot Otto Mueller? - 2022 - Estonia

Who Shot Otto Mueller? - 2022 - 7/10
AKA - Kes Tappis Otto Mülleri?

 
Bully, oppressor, adulterer, rapist, murderer, successful businessman.
Yes, the list the suspects stretches long.  All of ’em family, at the dinner table minutes earlier.
Police arrive and start interrogating.  Trying to  decipher alternative truths.
Well structured and directed, in that testimonies overlap yet vary in small details.
Midway, I honed in on one individual, while Zelda suspected another.
Both wrong.