The Young Poisoner's Handbook - 1996 - UK

The Young Poisoner's Handbook - 1996 - 6/10

 
Mid-school Graham has an interest in and a flair for chemistry.
He is also into death, the dark side, and he’s more than a little morbid.
When his parents cross him, Graham poisons them.
He is institutionalized, where his keen intellect sets him apart.
Dark frightening comedy, is creepy and unsettling.
Especially for those (you and I) who have toiled next to an unstable coworker.
Not for all tastes, for those with a tolerance for black comedy.

John Carter - 2012 - USA

John Carter - 2012 - 5/10

 
By any other name, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “A Princess Of Mars”.
Civil War captain is teleported to the angry red planet.
Once there, and once he grasps his situation, Carter finds himself amid a forever war, and finds a princess.
Fairly standard plot here (can you say Star Wars?), yet this launches from 1912.
Despite an enthusiastic cast, this feels like leftovers.
The plot, alien creatures that seem from Lucas casting, a poor grip on pacing,
Result is overlong, old-fashioned, and just flat lacking sizzle.
At least one faneditor has tackled this, trimming 20”.  Helps, but the flaws are merely lessened.

30 Coins: S02 - 2023 - Spain

30 Coins: S02 - 2023 - 7/10
AKA - 30 Monedas

 
Season 02 splinters off in several directions with multiple characters.
Also, with a new foe, the ultra rich Barbow, with his own agenda.
We follow Father Vergara, in the fires of hell, dealing with nemesis Angelo (Mr Cipher).
Elsewhere, villagers flee, hide, or conspire.  Fear not, everything coalesces.
The finale is a veritable avalanche of action and images.
Creator Álex de la Iglesia has announced that S03 episodes and conclusion are already written.
Lovecraft acolytes, this is a series of inspired insanity and mad brilliance.

Husbands And Wives - 1992 - USA

Husbands And Wives - 1992 - 7/10

 
Long married couple Jack and Sally are breaking up.
To the dismay of their friends, who begin to reflect on their own marriage.
Consequences include wondering whether their own relationship is still sound.
One of Woody Allen’s darker comedy of manners, which is not always funny.
He probes here into jealousy, possession, mid-life crises.
Fiction may mirror reality here, as this was the last film between Allen and Farrow.
Their story, sadly, became public fodder, and the stuff of tabloid soap opera.

Dangerous Crossing - 1953 - USA

Dangerous Crossing - 1953 - 6/10

 
The new bride is jilted on her honeymoon cruise.
No husband.  In fact, no one has heard of the husband.
Ruth had booked under her maiden name.  But – but – and she faints.
Thank goodness the ship’s doctor is understanding, and handsome.
Old-fashioned mystery plays well in the tight corners of the ship.
Great use of fog and forced perspective.
Nonetheless, this feels padded.  Listen to the earlier “Cabin B-13” on Suspense instead.

The Beaux’ Stratagem - 2015 - UK

The Beaux’ Stratagem - 2015 - 7/10

 
Their fortunes lavished on assorted debaucheries, two gentlemen flee London creditors.
The new quarry?  Young rural heiresses.  Find em, fool em, fleece em, forget em.
Until one of the wastrels is smitten.  As for the ladies, no lambs here.
Add a scheming innkeeper, a gypsy seductress, and a band of highwaymen.
Speaking of band, a combo of musicians provide accompaniment for stray songs and jigs.
Broadly comedy of manners from 1707 rollicks along; keep up with the staccato dialogue.
Theatre junkies, Jane Austen unbuttoned.

Koyaanisqatsi - 1982 - USA

Koyaanisqatsi - 1982 - 8/10

 
Life out of balance.
Overpowering visual assault showing humanity dwarfed by our constructs.
The pace hurtles dizzyingly, the images a cascade.
Philip Glass score aids this tremendously.
Consider also, 1982 was pre-internet, pre-social media.
Nowadays, dwellers are likewise enthralled to devices, and, in turn, masters of those.
Forty years on, this remains as powerful and as troubling as ever.

Paddington In Peru - 2024 - UK

Paddington In Peru - 2024 - 6/10

 
News by post reports that Aunt Lucy has disappeared from the Home For Retired Bears.
Thus, Paddington and Family Brown embrace the risk and travel to the Andes.
Third installment of the adventurous bear with rapids, fortune hunters, and shaky goings on.
Escapades, Peruvian in-jokes, along with a list of everything that goes wrong on trips.
This will be fine for family viewing, and fine of Paddington fans.
Not as good as the second film, yet better than the first.

Double Vision - 2002 - Taiwan

Double Vision - 2002 - 6/10
AKA - Shuang Tong // 雙瞳

 
The first victim died in his office, drowned or frozen to death.
Next one was incinerated in her apartment, nothing else was even scorched.
By victim three, a strange bacteria has been isolated.
Taiwan police, out of their depth, consult the FBI, who send a profiler.
Early on, the two sides barely tolerate each other, and that never subsides.
Strange murder mystery mixes scientific investigation with supernatural underpinnings.
Amidst the deaths are Taoist scriptures, a secretive cult, and immortality.
Alert: Two endings are out there.

Poodle Springs - 1998 - USA

Poodle Springs - 1998 - 6/10

 
“Philip Marlowe, private investigations.  I don’t take divorce cases?”
Marlowe hears the request for help, the address, then gunshots.
He alerts the police, then hits the crime scene first.  And is now suspect #1.
The setup, the frame.  The patsy, and old enough to know better.
Perhaps too old, perhaps that’s the problem.  Marlowe is old.
1963, set in the border between California and Nevada, amidst shady wives, gunsels and greedy developers.
James Caan well cast as Marlowe, fading detective from an earlier era.
Top notch writing.  Chandler started this, Robert Parker finished it, Tom Stoppard adapted it.
Convoluted, confusing at times, yet unlike – ooh – Big Sleep, this does tie up fairly logically.
Keep track of the three ladies.  Fine Neo-Noir for mystery fans.

The Big Bluff - 1955 - USA

The Big Bluff - 1955 - 5/10

 
Ne’re-do-well Rick confers with girlfriend Fritzi, sexpot dancer and wed to a jealous man.
Rightly so, too, as Rick and Fritizi glide in and out of each other’s rooms at any given chance.
Rick has now stumbled onto a cash cow.  An attractive New York heiress.
Whose days are numbered owing to an incurable heart ailment.
In better hands, perhaps a creative director of photography, this might have been something.
Director Lee Wilder (Billy’s brother) does not have a lick of style.
The overall look is cheap and sleazy, actually fitting for the tawdry plot.

Mansion Of The Living Dead - 1982 - Spain

Mansion Of The Living Dead - 1982 - 5/10
AKA - La Mansión de los Muertos Vivientes

 
Four waitresses (strippers) holiday at a beachfront hotel.
Save for a desk employee and a gardener, the sprawling hotel is deserted.
Also the beach, utterly empty.
Nearby, however, there is an abandoned monastery.
Where, one by one, the females investigate, to their peril.
Jess Franco “Horror” outing, lethargic in pace, is replete with liminal wastes and incessant winds.
The “dead” wear white robes, their faces disfigured with papier-mâché masks or shaving cream.

Scala!!! Or The Incredibly Strange Rise And Fall Of The World's Wildest Cinema - 2023 - UK

Scala!!! Or The Incredibly Strange Rise And Fall Of The World's Wildest Cinema - 2023 - 7/10

 
The venue at Kings Cross spanning its reincarnation in 1978 until its 1993 demise.
Essentially a revival house, Scala screened older fare, grindhouse, exploitation, queer and experimental.
Audiences were a wild mix of LGBTQ, cineastes, action enthusiasts, headcases.
Array of film clips among talking heads (audience, creative types, critics, staff).
For buffs, those who hit the seats several times a week, this is essential!
If only to get ideas for those obscure gems you somehow missed.
Perfect companion to Ed And Pauline (2014).

When they showed the monthly calendars, I flashed back.
Both the Nuart and Sherman offered those, and Zelda and I would circle what we wanted to see.
Typically, we saw films 3-4 times a week.  Unlike Scala, those theaters also carried arthouse fare.
Cleaner neighborhoods than Scala, yet audiences, especially late shows, were similar.
English subtitles = https://subsource.net/subtitle/scala-or-the-incredibly-strange-rise-and-fall-of-the-worlds-wildest-cinema-and-how-it-influenced-a-mixed-up-generation-of-weirdos-and-misfits-2023/english/10078129

My Darling Clementine - 1946 - USA

My Darling Clementine - 1946 - 7/10

 
Stopping over in Tombstone, the Earp brothers leave one in charge while they rest.
Next thing, their brother is murdered, cattle rustled, they’re broke and need jobs right quick.
Can you say Marshal Earp?  And the prime suspects?  The Clantons.
Dark, moody Western, heavily tinged with Noir.
Fonda ideal as Earp, Walter Brennan cast against type as the sinister Clanton.
Victor Mature a real eye-opener as the dying Doc Holiday.
Striking photography.  Oh yes, and some business at the OK Corral.