The Lady From Shanghai - 1947 - USA

The Lady From Shanghai - 1947 - 6/10

 
A sucker born every minute.
Irish seaman O’Hara takes a shine to blonde beauty Elsa.
She is married, but her husband is much older and a cripple.
He hires on as mate on their yacht, and is soon involved in murder.
Plot is hardly a mess, yet it is confusing.
Partly by Welles’ design, partly because much was cut, reshot and reedited.
Droll humor will be lost to many; it is key to appreciating.
Much of the film was shot on Errol Flynn’s yacht, the Zaca.

The Omega Man - 1971 - USA

The Omega Man - 1971 - 6/10

 
Second adaptation of Matheson’s “I Am Legend”.
Following a global biological war, humans are down to survivors and mutants.
Dr. Neville has developed a vaccine, but the albino mutants ain’t buying it.
Luddites to the core, probably insane, technology has to go, as do any cures.
Heston is resourceful at keeping them at bay … for awhile.
There are logic holes, yet the suspense and pacing keep you riveted to the proceedings.

The Dive - 2023 - Malta

The Dive - 2023 - 6/10

 
Sisters Drew and May prepare for the annual family watery descent.
One gathers Dad exists no more, while Ma is a lost entity.
Bubbly Drew and glum May are polar opposites, as they drive down the coast of Malta.
Destination?  An underwater cave.  Have they told anyone?
So, early on, when the landslide occurs, the scatterbrained Drew is left safe.
Most of this is photographed deep down, so this is fairly dark.
Drew is something between a klutz and a dunce, a perky bobblehead.
Decent aqua-thriller, marred by overly excessive characterizations.

Night Shift: Money Heist - 2022 - India

Night Shift: Money Heist - 2022 - 6/10

 
After forging their boss’s signature, and sorta buying stuff for themselves, two office drones get fired.
What to do?  Drink, get high, then plot to heist the boss’s black money vault.
Bear in mind, our two schemers ain’t the brightest bulbs.
“Some heists work, some don’t.”
Sharp Hindi comedy.

Love Pants: Ian Dury & Jane Horrocks - 2022 - UK

Love Pants: Ian Dury & Jane Horrocks - 2022 - 7/10

 
Jane was 23 when she met the 45 year old Dury.
She was an up and coming actress, his mainstream appeal had waned, although he continued to have hits.
There relationship, tempestuous and toxic, barely endured a year.
Years after his death in 2000, she unearthed letters.
Love letters, loaded barbs, apologetic, pleading.
Reasons why she loved him, and why she had to leave.
Radio drama, for Dury fans, for those enmeshed in bitter love.  
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g97b

Reasons To Be Cheerful - 2017 - UK

Reasons To Be Cheerful - 2017 - 7/10

 
Blockheads, assemble!  Ian Dury musical follows a pair of stiffs trying to see a concert.
Vinnie tells of when he and mate Colin schemed to attend a sold out Hammersmith show.
It’s also tribute to Vinnie’s father who has gone blind, yet remains defiantly anti-establishment.
In between, sometimes out of nowhere, the songs, pounding, aggressively in your face.
The Graeae Theatre Company features an all-disabled cast, though you will not notice after a few minutes.
Filmed live in a pub club, the sound is a mixed bag.
During dialogue / monologue volume is too low, whereas musical numbers roar full throttle.
The mixing person should have easily corrected this during or afterward.

House Of Usher - 1960 - USA

House Of Usher - 1960 - 7/10

 
Philip arrives at the Usher mansion, home of his fiancée, Madeleine.
Only brother Roderick refuses, owing to the Usher curse.
Philip stays, listens to brother Roderick spin tales of family history and madness.
Surprisingly good film from Roger Corman.
Benefits from Vincent Price’s restrained, brooding performance.
Superb set design.  DVD boasts commentary by Corman.

Last Plane From Baalbeck - 1964 - Italy

Last Plane From Baalbeck - 1964 - 6/10
AKA - F.B.I. Operazione Baalbeck

 
Energetic Italian Noir set in Beirut.
Interpol sends in a fresh agent to Lebanon to thwart gun runners.
Earlier agents had been liquidated.
On the plane, on the tarmac, in the terminal, everyone looks suspicious.
Fresh killings begin.
The narrative moves so fast that one doesn’t have time to think, or even sort cops from villains.
Beirut locations would have been exotic, especially when this city was considered the Paris of the Mideast.

The Medusa - 2023 - USA

The Medusa - 2023 - 6/10

 
Over cocktails, Professor Gleer gives old flame, Professor Dregler, a book.
Gleer is something of a boaster, and the book he picked up during foreign travels.
Dregler them strolls into an ever perplexing journey.
Decent Ligotti short mixes the everydayness with increasingly disorientation.

Gangster No. 1 - 2000 - UK

Gangster No. 1 - 2000 - 6/10

 
Freddy, spellbound by beauty onstage, fails to see the hungry gleam in his new recruit’s eye.
Not for the bird, but for Freddy’s clothes, flash, position.
He is ambitious, cold blooded, probably a sociopath.
The gang is a small, disparate bunch, and Freddy seems to be losing focus.
Set in “Swinging London” this evokes the Sixties, instead of offering slavish imitation.
Paul Bettany and Malcolm McDowell brilliantly channel the same gangster, decades apart.
Stylish, violent, with the blackest of comedy.