Bodyguards And Assassins - 2009 - Hong Kong

Bodyguards And Assassins - 2009 - 6/10
AKA - Shi Yue Wei Cheng // 十月围城

 
In 1905, Dr Sun Yat Sen plans to visit Hong Kong to unite provincial rebel factions.
The empress wants him assassinated.
A force of skilled murderers are gathered, strategies and snares laid.
In opposition, ordinary folk from rickshaw drivers to street vendors, students to disgraced nobles.
Continued slavery vs the chance at democracy.
Film is slow burn for about an hour, once Sun Yat Sen arrives, street fighting begins.
Second half overloaded with breathless action.
Dominated by  Donnie Yen, Jun Hu, Simon Yam, Leon Lai.
Fights, dazzlingly choreographed, excessive and heroic.
Since that era, millions of Chinese have died, hoping for democracy; in 2024, democracy seems a dream.

The Cruise Of The Zaca - 1946 - USA

The Cruise Of The Zaca - 1946 - 6/10

 
Errol, on his Mulholland hillside, calls for a helicopter to shuttle him dockside.
He drops in on friends at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and go gray whale hunting.
Afterward, a small scientific party sails down the Mexican coast.
Catching specimens, cataloguing finds, shore parties,
Voyage sails south, through the Panama Canal, into the Atlantic, to Jamaica.
Flynn narrates this easy going, personal travelogue, unreleased for several years.

High Anxiety - 1977 - USA

High Anxiety - 1977 - 6/10

 
Dr. Thorndyke arrives in Los Angeles to take over the Institute for the Very Nervous.
His predecessor had died under mysterious circumstances.
Throndyke suffers from acrophobia, which the Institute’s cliff location exacerbates.
Satire / parody of Hitchcock films is well done.
References include Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, even Citizen Kane.
Jokes and sight gags land most of the time.  When they don’t, that’s OK because you are recalling other films, as well as the locations used.
As with much of Mel Brooks, some of his humor is tasteless or puerile, forever 12 years old.
Hitchcock was actually involved with this one, so there.

The Joy Luck Club - 1993 - USA

The Joy Luck Club - 1993 - 7/10

 
In 2018, Crazy Rich Asians was released with exclamations of “Finally, Asians are represented!”
Disingenuous for anyone who ever watched a Shaw Brothers actioner, Toho production, etc …
Plus, twenty-five years earlier, The Joy Luck Club was a huge hit with a predominantly Chinese cast.
Four older female friends meet to play mahjong and comment on their daughters.
As with too many mother-daughter relationships, mothers see disappointments.
Four stories of the mothers’ lives / existence in China.
Four stories of the daughters’ lives in San Francisco.
Reconciliations are somewhat pat, the men are clueless.
Still, each story delivers emotionally and the film towers above today’s “card” flicks.

Sssssss - 1973 - USA

Sssssss - 1973 - 6/10

College student starts working for a professor (completely mad) working with snakes.
To protect the lad, the doctor injects him with anti-venom.
No time flat, the student’s skin starts to peel and he has weird nightmares.

 
At this point, common sense should take over and the kid hightails it out of there.
Except – he’s met the doctor’s daughter, and primal urges compel him to stay.
Restrained telling hurts, although the make-up is effective.
Story itself is rather goofy, but this is watchable and will maintain interest.

The Stones And Brian Jones - 2023 - UK

The Stones And Brian Jones - 2023 - 6/10

 
Early on, the narrator states, “…most people today haven't even heard of Brian Jones.”
Hardly true, since the initial album for most is the “Hot Rocks” compilation of their earliest hits.
And Brian is throughout that collection.
This lightweight documentary hits some bases, omits others.
Early Stones, Ian Stewart, who’s that?
Jones numerous girlfriends, and subsequent mothers, fill chronology between the band’s ascension.
Nico omitted.  Monterey Pop omitted.
Brian’s “death by misadventure” glosses over the murder theories, or that onlookers did nothing.
This is entertaining, yet the participants are being very careful with their words.

Winchester ‘73 - 1950 - USA

Winchester ‘73 - 1950 - 7/10

 
Outstanding Noir, cloaked in Western settings.
Two journeys:
Bent on revenge, cowboy Lin searches for outlaw Dutch Brown.
Parallel narrative tracks the Winchester rifle as it passes from hand to hand.
Violent film altered Jimmy Stewart’s usual comedy / drama personas into harder edged.
Classic Hollywood, with impressive casting (Shelley Winters, Dam Duryea, Will Geer, and newcomers).
The DVD features an interesting, if rambling, commentary from Stewart, recorded in 1989 for LD.
He never stays on-topic, but listening is akin to sitting on a sofa beside him, hearing one story after another.

44 - 2024 - India

44 - 2024 - 6/10

 
The Mumbai heist never even went as planned: the cops had been tipped off.
Stu evades arrest by dashing inside a 50 story building, unfinished for decades for reasons unknown.
She ascends to floor 44, before realizing that level is an Escher trap.
Horror short, filmed in rubble, loaded with shadows and jump scares.
Closing credits hold aural interest.  Ought to be 5.1.

Queen Of Hearts - 2019 - Denmark

Queen Of Hearts - 2019 - 7/10
AKA - Dronningen

Husband is a successful doctor, wife an attorney for victims.
Two young daughters, solid marriage –
Until the husband decides to bring his 17 year old son from a previous marriage into the home.
Yes, the kid has problems, and the adjustment is rocky.
But the small daughters take a shine to him, and he grows into the family.
Bringing girlfriends home, however, triggers something.

 
His stepmother suddenly feels old.  Akin to a midlife crisis.
The incomprehensible affair she starts runs hypocritically parallel to teen victims she defends.
Unpleasant slow burn drama, one knows will end badly.

Firefly - 2002 - USA

Firefly - 2002 - 6/10  

 
Small ship Firefly flits across the galaxy, smuggling, transporting cargo, embroiled in conflicts.
The look and adventures are Space Western.
Crew is ex-military, idealists, convicts, a troubled girl.
Credit for many things done right: grub food, language a mix of English, Spanish, Mandarin.
Stories are character and plot driven, effects not so much.
Joss Whedon’s dialogue is twee and arch, however, and I suspect that puts off casual viewers.
All the outposts they visit are primitive, low tech, causing one to wonder: what’s the point of the future?

Assignment Terror - 1970 - Spain

Assignment Terror - 1970 - 5/10
AKA - Los Monstruos del Terror

 
Lo, advance agents from planet Ummo, 14 lights years distant.
Mission, make Earth suitable for colonization after obliterating humankind.
Easy, correct?  The can impersonate humans, have mastered interstellar travel, plus, check out all that cool gear behind the pair.  Lights, SciFi equipment, tube amplifiers, other gadgets.
So, their master plan?
Resurrect a vampire, a werewolf, mummy, and the Frankenstein monster.
Next, unleash the beasts!
If you can accept that premise, you probably watch a lot of similar junk.

Wicked Little Letters - 2023 - UK

Wicked Little Letters - 2023 - 6/10

 
As is often the case, they started out as friends.
Enjoying each others company, sharing laughs.
Before the misunderstandings, the spats, then the letters.
Filthy obscenities, heinous libels, shocking to decent citizens.
And decent citizens across the village began receiving the posted filth.
Marked as a comedy, this is an ugly, mean-spirited thing.
Jane Marple would recognize the setting and the characters.
The petty harshness of the cozy confines.