Confessions - 2010 - Japan

Confessions - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Kokuhaku // 告白

 
The students are unruly, untamed, ungovernable.  Immune from consequences.
Teacher Yuko is leaving, but not before infecting two with HIV.
The unnamed pair who had murdered her four-year-old daughter.
Why?
Psychological thriller of confessions, explanations, half-baked rationale, denials.
Gripping throughout.  Horror or justification for those who believe the axiom “spare the rod”.

Gasland - 2010 - USA

Gasland - 2010 - 7/10

 
Lopsided documentary of the gas fracking business.
So what if the ground water will be undrinkable for 10,000 years?
Landowners are paid a pittance?  Crybabies.
Elected officials hang their heads and say “I don’t know” yet pocket “considerations”.
The EPA holds public hearings – which lead to nothing.
The game is rigged, my friend.  Plus, humans trust lies, we always do.
Nowadays, behold oil pipelines, data centers, artificial intelligence.  Jobs for all!
A sucker is born every minute.

Night Shift - 2010 - USA

Night Shift - 2010 - 5/10

 
The office workers have left a mess.  Blood, entrails, and a mob of zombies.
The flask swigging janitor takes it in stride.  He’s paid to clean up, after all.
Budget horror short is cheap looking, and goofy throughout.
That said, there are plenty of good jokes in this.  (Beer or reefer may help.)
You could do worse.

Moguls And Movie Stars - 2010 - USA

Moguls And Movie Stars - 2010 - 7/10

 
Hardly Hollywood: A Celebration Of Silent Film, yet this is a fine overview of the pioneering years.
Detailing the slow invention of film from kinetiscope to nickelodeons to theaters to studios.
Stars and name directors are highlit, but the focus is on the bosses: Goldwyn, Warner, Mayer, Laemmle, etc …
Seven episodes = seven hours.  Concludes with a crash in the 1970’s.
By that time the “star system” was shattered, theater chain control long over, and maverick directors were loose.
Excellent for buffs and historians, but this only goes to the 70’s, so know your appetite for older fare.

Machete - 2010 - USA

Machete - 2010 - 6/10

 
After a betrayal from a corrupt supervisor, after his wife is murdered.
Ex-Mexican police officer Machete now works itinerant labor in Texas.
Where, again, he is conned into an operation, little more than a setup.
After so many mainstream films, I had written Rodriguez off as riding the Hollywood gravy train.
Most of those releases were hits, production slick as can be.
Machete feels like a return to roots, and casting Danny Trejo is inspired.
Quote to live by, “Machete don’t text.”  So say we all.

Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking - 2010 - USA

Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking - 2010 - 7/10  

 
Hilarious one man show from silver-spooned toddler to tabloid fodder.
Hollywood mating rituals, high earners and big spenders.
Drugs, depression, manic depressive, fame and infamy.
Fisher is funny throughout to a responsive and sympathetic audience.
Star Wars fans, OT enclave, at 42” the atrocious bagel haircut appears, as do stories.
Lucas is mentioned, no one else from the Trilogy.  Perhaps she is a bit guarded there.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3359473

Wake - 2010 - USA

Wake - 2010 - 7/10

 
After her father died, Charmaine was no longer under his control.
Reckoned an “old maid” she was now free to find herself a fella.
She sought out the conjure woman, holding a box of specifications.
Handsome, green eyes, sharp dresser, and capable of satisfaction.
After the barter, the demoness said she’d find out.
Charmaine found out.

Predators - 2010 - USA

Predators - 2010 - 6/10

 
Not exactly a remake, more a sidespin with a heavy dose of “Fun And Games” from Outer Limits.
Humans, specialized in killing (not hunting), are air-dropped into hostile territory.
Alert to their situation, they realize they ain’t in Kansas, they are not even on planet Earth.
They are in a “hunting ground” – hunters unknown.
While this echoes the original, combat action overload, the cast are mere sketches.
No do they work as a cohesive team, making outcomes pretty foregone.
A disappointment for me, more so because all the elements for a classic actioner are there.
Save for the script, sloppy and unfocused, because of which the film stumbled.

The Ghost Writer - 2010 - France

The Ghost Writer - 2010 - 7/10  

 
Anonymous scribe gets hired to polish the memoirs of an ex-Prime Minister.
(Tony Blair is implied, although there is nothing overt to affirm that.)
The PM is holed up on a high-security, island fortress.
Soon enough, the ghost realizes the journal reveals too much national security.
That, and the job description failed to declare how hazardous it would be.
Top-notch thriller, blanketed in Noir, inside a claustrophobic setting.
Late era Polanski film, and a reminder just how potent he can be.

God Went Surfing With The Devil - 2010 - USA

God Went Surfing With The Devil - 2010 - 6/10

 
Surfers 4 Peace want to deliver 23 surfboards into Gaza.
Owing to ongoing conflict, the border is only intermittently open.
The are endless customs forms, fees, weird concerns (Israel fears terrorists will surf into their country).
Residents of both nations are interviewed amidst rocket attacks and retaliations.
Along with a few officials from Israel and Hamas.
By design, no history is expressed or explored.
Surfers, professional, amateur, and youthful aspirants, all seem a hopeful, optimistic bunch.
Eye-opening companion to Gaza Surf Club.

Murders In Sandhamn - 2010 - Sweden

Murders In Sandhamn - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Morden I Sandhamn

 
A body is washed ashore.  Police arrive and – “Hey, didn’t we go to school together?”
Yes, amidst a couple of murders, the detective and married wife and mom of two feel the sparks.
The detective’s inexperienced underling does the field work while he lingers.
You want a cleverly constructed mystery, this ain’t it.
Devotees of soap opera TV that runs 45 installments, enter friends!
Thank God the first season ran for only three episodes.  I’m done.

Saint - 2010 - Netherlands

Saint - 2010 - 6/10  
AKA - Sint

 
Every time December 5th occurs during a full moon, Saint Nicholas reemerges.
Not the jovial bearer of gifts, but the malevolent plunderer.  Of children and adults.
Even though this is Amsterdam, snow laden streets and quays seem deserted.
Expect brutal dismemberments, along with splittings, yet little blood.
Scare factor is quite low, as is the humor.
Entertaining while watching, but little more.
Another lump of coal for your Holiday Horror mix.

The Song Of Lunch - 2010 - UK

The Song Of Lunch - 2010 - 7/10

 
He gazes at her wrist, so elegant and deft, with conjecture and speculation.
Has it truly been ten years?  Fifteen?  So little has changed.
Well, she is married, with two children.
While he remains a has-been poet, after she had married that successful fraud.
Two old flames meet for lunch.  Why, you wonder.
To rekindle?  Or to reaffirm?
Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in pocket drama, although the latter carries most of the soured load.
Adapted from a poem, the dance of language in this is magical.

Third Reich: Rise & Fall - 2010 - USA

Third Reich: Rise & Fall - 2010 - 4/10

 
Embarrassing, amateurish, so-called World War II documentary.  Two parts:  “Rise" - “Fall"
Purported to be told from the German point of view using letters, journals, and never before seen film footage.
The letters were from footsoldiers, citizens, ordinary souls.  After almost every passage, however, the omniscient, voice of doom narrator rebukes or reinterprets.  Editorializes.
Half of the found footage is compelling, though one grows suspicious of its authenticity.
The other half is of picnics, birthday parties, beach outings.  Nothing related to the Third Reich or WWII.

 
There is a memorable howler in “Fall” at the onset of Operation Barbarossa.
(Barbarossa was not mentioned, by the way.  Nor were any battles, operations, generals, politicians, Krupps, the SA, Gestapo  ...  Next to zero pesky historical details are in this program).
Anyway, the Wehrmacht prepares to invade.
Footage cross-cuts between cannon fire, growling Panzers, dive-bombing Stukas ... and ...
an adorable kitten playing on a ladder.  That’s correct, a genuine WWII kitty.
What the F?

 
Throughout, the video work of this “documentary” is inept.
The editor could not resist inserting old timey and damaged effects.
Sprocket holes, scratches, surface debris.  Transitions are jam-packed with those.
Editor seems like a 6th grade kid with an effects kit.
Makes one wonder how much of the actual footage was tampered with.
Like colorized?  Or using stock from another era and aging it?
Once tampering begins, doubts about authenticity, accuracy and integrity creep in.
Very disappointing.  Think “Third Reich For Dummies” only shallower and less focused.

The Last Weynfeldt - 2010 - Switzerland

The Last Weynfeldt - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Die Letzte Weynfeldt

Adrian, art connoisseur and advisor, finishes the suicide note, loads the derringer, points.
Then wait!  How about a last martini?
And at the bar, a female sidles up and makes conversation.
Audiences are immediately on guard, Adrian is not, and that rings false.

 
Because in the art scene, he would be accustomed to hustlers and frauds,
Execution is whimsical and the result seems a cheery mystery.

London Assurance - 2010 - UK

London Assurance - 2010 - 7/10

 
59 year old Sir Henry decides he must remarry in order to secure a source of capital.
The prospective bride is the 18 year old daughter of his boon friend.
A 40 year old age discrepancy is lessened owing to Sir Henry telling a disbelieving world he is but 39.
Enter young Blister, henry’s reprobate son, heavy intoxicant and grasping philanderer.
And thus, by separate journeys, do the men arrive at the bride’s rat-infested farm.
Regency set comedy is a lattice of situations, boasts, impersonations, turnabouts.
From outright buffoons to droll observers.  Wicked ladies to the sly Dazzle.
When you have viewed every Jane Austen adaptation and crave a farce, view this!
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/national-theatre-live-london-assurance/english/2861798

Beautiful Lies - 2010 - France

Beautiful Lies - 2010 - 4/10
AKA - De Vrais Mensonges

 
Forced, unfunny comedy.  Cold, gauche.
Male employee writes an anonymous mash letter to his female boss.
She round-files it, only to retrieve it later, copy it word for word, and post to her lovesick mother.
Complications ensue, along with lies, false assumptions, and emotional outbursts.
French misfire that stumbles on many levels.
For a comedy of errors, the pace plods like a drunken penguin.
Main characters are unpleasant and immature.
I could never decide if the director had no respect for women, or none for his audience.
Advertising equates this with Amélie - don’t believe that.

Student Services - 2010 - France

Student Services - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Mes Chères études

 
19 year old university student (Déborah François) starts turning tricks to pay rent, buy food, shop for nice clothes.
Narrative charts her progression from desperate Internet search to experienced free lancer.
Fair range of johns, though most are unpleasant.
Couple of warnings -
While this aired on French television, the screen is filled with full frontal nudity.
Not male nudity, though a large male substitute is featured prominently in one sequence.
For viewers who prefer waxed Barbie dolls or prepubescent 10 year olds, Ms François resembles neither.

Revealing Anne Lister - 2010 - UK

Revealing Anne Lister - 2010 - 6/10

 
Documentary about the scandalous Ms Lister, landowner and womanizer during the Regency era.
Womaniz - huh?  Say what?
Apparently this Sappho tale was an open secret during her time, though she did live in seclusion and was rich.
Money always helps cloak taboos.
She left journals containing 4 millions words.  Juicy bits, seductions and graphic depictions, are written in code.
The code was cracked in the 1890's, yet a descendant suppressed it.
The journals were deciphered again in the 1930's, again in the 60's, both times suppressed.
Finally, in 1988 the diaries were published.  It is astonishing they survived, instead of being burned.
Most of the “talking heads” in this are excellent, commenting with wry humour.
The presenter, on the other hand, is an insecure soul who brings up her own life experiences throughout, and cracks sarcastic.
Anne Lister’s story is interesting, the narrator’s life is not.

The Brest Fortress - 2010 - Russia

The Brest Fortress - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Fortress Of War // Брестская Kрепость

 
No-holds barred WWII guts n glory film, told from the besieged Soviet point of view.
In 1941, the Soviets were unprepared, poorly trained, complacent, and, if you recall your history, supplying raw materials to their German “ally” up to the last hour.
The Brest fortress is an obsolete relic, ill equipped for the Wehrmacht, at its zenith in '41.
Film scores in not being jingoistic or packed with propaganda.  Poor planning results in failure.
Even heroism is no match for Stukas, Panzers and machine gun fire.
Film is problematic, however, in that it provides scant background details.
Nothing is shown of the German planning for Operation Barbarossa, or the overall offensive around Minsk.
Of course, the entire film is from the Soviet defenders’ perspective, and they would be likewise ignorant of German High Command strategy.
There are also an awful lot of characters in this and roles and ranks are often confusing.
Don’t let that deter you, if curious.  Hunt down the documentary series Soviet Storm if truly interested.