Dead Ringers - 1988 - Canada

Dead Ringers - 1988 - 7/10

 
Disturbing film (particularly to female audiences) of identical twin brothers, both gynecologists.
One is a Casanova, preying on his patients.  The other, mild mannered, appreciates discards and leftovers.
After an emotional triangle erupts, drug abuse from one leads to sanity unraveling.
Jeremy Irons is dazzling as the twin brothers,
I freely confess I found it hard to separate the pair as the story progressed.
The unpredictability of behavior is what proves so unsettling – not to mention new surgical instruments.
Loosely based on reality = https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a35522434/marcus-twins-gynecologists-death-story.

Maneater Of Hydra - 1967 - W Germany

Maneater Of Hydra - 1967 - 5/10
AKA - La Isla de la Muerte  //  Island Of The Doomed

 
No, no, no!  Listen up, potential turistas.
No matter how far off the beaten track you want to go, you don’t ever want to go to no deserted island.
Especially if the lone inhabitant is a scientist, or researcher, or doctor, who likely needs guinea pigs.
Baron von Weser welcomes his guests, whereupon the stroll, and the deaths, begin.
His specialty is carnivorous plants.  Small ones, that feast on mice.
No one would make large plants, would they?
Endearingly bad movie, which boasts atrocious dubbing (part of its charm) and decent acting.
The print has never been restored (as of 2023) and it remains 7th generation.

The Attackers - 2013 - Russia

The Attackers - 2013 - 6/10
AKA - Istrebiteli

The Russian front, 1943, sees the Soviet Union pushing against the Wehrmacht.
Mini-series is of the Fighter Regiment.  Pilots, officers, mechanics

 
Story builds to the initial launch of the Kursk Offensive.
Camaraderie along with dogfights, with many unexpected elements.
As ever, a different point of view can be engrossing.
Straight off, many of the fighter pilots are female – totally accurate – shout out to the Night Witches.
NKVD political advisors are not kindly displayed.

 
Surprisingly, the Germans are not demonized, just battle hardened soldiers.
Their POW camp is shown with Soviet appeasers working for food and favors.
Trench war is appalling, the field hospital primitive.
Back in the rear, people live safer, and regard women at the front as little more than prostitutes.
Other reviews complain the female pilots are too attractive.
Untrue, there were dishes = https://www.rbth.com/history/334739-10-best-soviet-female-fighter

Blood Simple - 1984 - USA

Blood Simple - 1984 - 7/10

 
Sleazy bar owner suspects his wife is having an affair with one of the help.
He hires a private eye, who turns out to be one devious, twisted soul.
Participants circle warily, crossing, then double-crossing each other.
Brooding Noir put the Coen Brothers on the map for audiences who saw this.
Siskel & Ebert, then emerging, helped with positive reviews.
This ugly film, that feels like a trashy paperback, still packs a punch.
Unforgettable sequence of an active burial.

Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill - 2016 - USA

Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill - 2016 - 8/10

 
Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday in one of her final performances.
Songs, mixed with reminiscences, her incarceration, allusions to substances.
All the while, drinking steadily, deteriorating onstage.
McDonald is absolutely phenomenal, channeling Lady Day’s vocal phrasing, drawl, slipping in comedy along with bitter misery.
Filmed in a small New Orleans club, this gives the impression you are inside the Philly venue.
How McDonald could perform this night after night, live, is beyond belief.
Theatre fans, Jazz fans, this is absolutely not to be missed!

Live Nude Girls - 1995 - USA

Live Nude Girls - 1995 - 6/10

 
Steady on there.
Chick flick of five friends and a bachelorette party.
Sharing dramas, secrets, troubles.
Surprisingly funny throughout.
The “nude” by the way, I gather equates to open or bare, as in bare confessions.
With such a major cast, this should have been a box office hit, although I imagine the title confused audiences.

Appointment With Crime - 1946 - UK

Appointment With Crime - 1946 - 6/10

 
Quick job.  Smash the glass, grab the jewelry, hop into the nearby getaway car.
Easy, yes?  Wrong.  Which is why Leo winds up doing a stretch in prison.
Once his sentence is finished, he hunts for the men who left him there.
Dark little British Noir is filled with memorable, peculiar characters.
Likewise the bristling dialogue, and cheap view of life that steeps this one.
Best, however, is the merciless Leo, perfectly played by William Hartnell.
For you Doctor Who fanatics, he simply nails it.

Bustin’ Down The Door - 2008 - USA

Bustin’ Down The Door - 2008 - 6/10

 
In the mid-1970’s, Australian surfers arrived in Waimea, North Shore, Pipeline.
Their style was extraordinarily aggressive and they soon dominated the competitive heats.
Documentary mixes graybeards recollecting amidst vintage films.
The men, however, when younger, were callow and arrogant and made mistakes.
Mistakes which haunt them to this day.
Editing in this is especially fluid, making this a clinic for filmmakers.

Magpie Murders - 2022 - UK

Magpie Murders - 2022 - 7/10

 
Susan, editor for a prestigious publishing house, has a dilemma.  Two actually.
The firm’s top writer has turned in a major novel … minus the final chapter!
Moreover, the author is now deceased.  Possibly suicide, although many are skeptical.
The series weaves back and forth between modern Susan investigating the writer’s demise, and the period detective of the unfinished mystery, one Atticus Pünd, working to solve a series of deaths in the book.
Both mysteries are well plotted, firmly in the cozy world.
Not a series for multi-taskers, as scenes shift abruptly and several actors play dual roles.

Moods Of Love - 1976 - Hong Kong

Moods Of Love - 1976 - 6/10
AKA - Feng Hua Xue Yue // 风花雪月

The newly appointed magistrate tours temples in his region.
Saving Shui Yue Temple for last, since it is led by a living Buddha.
Jealous, he decides to soil the priest with a sexual scandal.
First, and weaker, of a risqué Shaw Bros. two-parter.

 
The second concerns the wily Madam Fox, skilled in turning girls into prostitutes.
A shameless, ruthless exploiter who lies, bullies, threatens.  Whores and male clients.
(Madam Fox sells one girl three times as a spotless virgin.)
Lotus River is the crowded lane, from brothels to teahouses to cramped flop rooms.
Where girls cajole, coax, and peddle the pleasures of the pink palace.

 
A sleazy tale, beautifully shot, of karma and cheap vengeance.
Three of the Taiwan “sirens” are on display, wearing easily shredded clothes.

Blood Woods - 2022 - Romania

Blood Woods - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Blutholz

 
The company man is attacked by bears and dogs.
Hold on!  Those are men in bear suits who release the attack shepherds.
The logging company hires a lawyer and aging troubleshooter to investigate.
Set in Brasov, Romania, this mystery has an excellent sense of place (I have been there).
It also explores the underlying tensions with the Roma, as well as political corruption.
Not a “romance” mystery, but a foray into murky history.
Good choice for fans of Noir.

Escape From Alcatraz - 1979 - USA

Escape From Alcatraz - 1979 - 7/10

 
Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, one of the inmates who “may” have escaped from the island prison.
Not so much an action film as a slow boil procedural.
Planning, acquiring materials, clandestine operations.
Under the daily life of oppressive incarceration.
Patrick McGoohan memorable as the confident, no-nonsense warden.
Shot inside Alcatraz, the photography is all harsh light and hard angles.
Frank Morris = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape_attempt

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! - 2015 - India

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! - 2015 - 7/10

 
1943 Calcutta, Bakshy is hired to find a missing father.
Instead, he finds WWII intrigue (rising Japan, British rule), drug smuggling, gang battles.
The plot is more convoluted than a Chandler hangover.
Sushant Singh Rajput excellent as the quick thinking detective, often too quick for his own good.
Great villains, obvious and disguised, as well as the English governor watching over his shoulder.
Femme fatales?  Of course, especially the bewitching songbird, Anguri.
Highly entertaining Hindi Noir, underappreciated in India, perhaps owing to the grim tone.

The Girl With A Bracelet - 2019 - France

The Girl With A Bracelet - 2019 - 6/10
AKA - La Fille au Bracelet

 
Lise, vacationing with her family, is apprehended at the beach.
She offers no resistance, then waits two years for the trial.
The charge?  Violent, stabbing murder of her best friend.
What plays out is a courtroom drama, with the prosecutor quietly slurring and trashing the accused’s reputation.
There is little evidence, no murder weapon, so the trial focuses on her private life.
Lise is stone-faced throughout.  Most of the reactions come from her parents.
A generational divide, with parents assuming young girls remain children even when they are 15, then 16.
Always bear in mind, in France, accused are considered guilty until proven innocent.