The House On Bare Mountain - 1962 - USA

The House On Bare Mountain - 1962 - 4/10

 
Granny Good runs the home for good girls.
There are some morning exercises and learning, but mostly the girls traipse around naked.
An upcoming party promises to get out of hand.
Yeah, it’s all a front, since Granny runs a bootlegging business from the basement.
This is akin to Benny Hill meets Doris Wishman.
Silly, juvenile.  Why Nicolas Winding Refn chose to restore this is beyond me.

English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/house-on-bare-mountain/english/3309595

Are You Awake? - 2023 - USA

Are You Awake? - 2023 - 6/10

 
Dale works as an “alarm clock”, going into homes, rousing sleepers.
Ensuring they are “awake”.
Gradually, the feeling of disconnection seeps.  From clients, and within Dale herself.
“What do I enjoy?  Is this life worth anything at all?”
An elliptical short, of alienation, depression, and quiet despair.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/are-you-awake/english/3309000

The Fall Of The House Of Usher - 2023 - USA

The Fall Of The House Of Usher - 2023 - 7/10

 
Diabolical spin on the opioid billionaire Sackler family steeped in Poe.
One by one, the scions are dying.  Deaths ugly, brutal, horrifying.  One day after another.
Can any spy a pattern?  No, because they are the definition of stupid rich.
Roderick Usher invites his long time nemesis, Augustus Dupin, for a drink ‘n’ confess session.
And the history, shady deals, deviltry, trickle out over a short season.
Packed with poetry, allusions, character references, story spins, this should delight knowledgeable Poe fans.
Non-readers?  Fear not, plenty of deaths and gore to satisfy bloodlust.
Most of the males are weak or stupid.  Two daughters deserved more screen time (Camille especially).
I shun Hollywood TV soaps, but this one concludes.  No unresolved cliffhangers.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle - 1980 - UK

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle - 1980 - 6/10

 
Part documentary (questionable), part spoof.
Private-eye Steve Jones investigates the Sex Pistols. While Malcolm McLaren asserts claims to being the group’s mastermind.
Incoherent, mad and more than a little fraudulent.
Nevertheless, several performances are electrifying; for years this was the only way to see Sid’s “My Way”.
Vicious, one of Life’s saddest and greatest disasters is irresistible.
The slipshod ineptitude of this film is stupefying … and endearingly repellent.
Leonard Cohen said it best.  “Everybody is the mad hero of his own drama.”

Invasion Of The Saucer Men - 1957 - USA

Invasion Of The Saucer Men - 1957 - 3/10

 
Horny teenagers run over an extraterrestrial out in the backwoods.
While they go to alert the cops, a cheap chiseler arrives and opts to exploit the corpse.
Except more aliens arrive and snuff him.
SciFi / Horror / Comedy mix is barely watchable. (One of my brother’s faves, I have suffered it often.)
Cheap sets, ridiculous big-headed aliens, and can-do teenagers.
Spare yourself.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline - 2022 - USA

How To Blow Up A Pipeline - 2022 - 7/10

 
Yes, in remote areas gas and oil pipes are fairly isolated.  Soft targets for the determined.
I recognized the types early:  three, fully-committed hardcore souls, three earnest do-gooders, two tourists.
Each has a backstory, and a grievance against fossil fuel which many may identify with.
The chronology is meticulous, with step-by-step directions for bomb making.
In structure, the resembles a caper film.  The team, the planning, the execution.
Great thriller - NOT overly preachy.

Manodrome - 2023 - UK

Manodrome - 2023 - 7/10

 
Ralphie now drives folks around in his car (Uber - Lyft - whatever it will be called in 2 years).
He has been laid off from an unnamed company for reasons unknown.
Anger, no, stymied rage, simmers just beneath his surface.
There is a pregnant girlfriend, whom he is unable to provide for or satisfy.
At the gym, he stares at other men, unsure of his identity, masculinity.
His is not toxic masculinity, but rather a stunted masculinity.
A mysterious clan of men (“Dads” and “Sons”) attempt to help him.
Jesse Eisenberg (if perhaps, a shade too old) is exceptional in this analysis of how modern society reduces males.

Proxy - 2020 - USA

Proxy - 2020 - 7/10

 
Surrogate, copy, replicant, clone, Victoria services clients.
Unresolved issues, simmering anger, lost love.
She is the target of, more often than not, hate, regret, violence.
A copy, tensions do accumulate, nevertheless.
Futuristic short benefits from quality actors, and restrained direction.
English subtitles = https://subscene.com/subtitles/proxy-2020/english/3306701

El Conde - 2023 - Chile

El Conde - 2023 - 7/10

 
The adult children gather like vultures once they hear dear papa is ready to die.
Where is the money?  Where are the bonds, the documents, the deeds, the wealth?
He doesn’t remember.  He’s tired of living,  He’s old.  250 years old, perhaps more.
French born Claude Pinochet would eventually become Augusto Pinochet, dictator of Chile.
That was before the overthrow.  Now he lives in what appears to be an abandoned detention camp.
Very funny horror film, chock full of history, satire, and the perfidiousness of our species.
Arch from beginning to end.  Perhaps too arthouse for the hoi polloi.
This assumes one knows “something” about history: French, Chilean, English.