Sinatra: All Of Nothing At All - 2015 - USA

Sinatra: All Of Nothing At All - 2015 - 7/10 

 
Two-part, four (4) hour biography of “the Voice” will be plenty for the genuinely curious.
For legions of fans, possibly not enough.
With permission from the Sinatra estate, this has a trove of photos personal items. 
Most everything is here: early chronology, crooner, Hollywood, Vegas.
As well as more unsavory avenues: philandering, the Mob, politics.
Cringe at the 4 hr length if you will.  After Sinatra’s death in 1998, a local station broadcast a ten hour documentary.
Oh, had I only I taped it. 

Night Of The Rat - 2015 - Spain

Night Of The Rat - 2015 - 5/10 
AKA - La Noche Del Ratón

 
If only they had not been arguing.  Jorge would not have missed his preferred gas station.
Maybe he would have turned around.  If only they had not been arguing.
Instead, he drives to the next one – where an urban sniper is targeting clients.
Past midnight, Jorge, twice wounded, hides in the aisles.
The marksman is patient and deadly accurate.
Excruciatingly slow.  80 minutes feels like 8 hours.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3372137

The Stone Tape - 2015 - UK

The Stone Tape - 2015 - 7/10

 
In a recent issue of Hellebore, there was an essay on The Stone Tape, a BBC film from 1972.
I more appreciated the film, rather than liking it.
The article discussed the film, then the radio adaptation from 2015 from Peter Strickland.
Intrigued, I tracked down the binaural version, donned the headphones and was immersed.
The story remains muzzy for me, but the sound mix is superb, putting you fully into the terrors.
Audio is online at the usual sites.  Be sure to check to see if it lists binaural.
Strickland discusses this at length at sadly bygone Electric Sheep Magazine.

The Silent - 2015 - Finland

The Silent - 2015 - 6/10

 
Young girl, perhaps 4 or 5, tries to make sense of an increasingly creepy world.
Wordless film has an elegiac tone, while the story quietly resolves.
Those who linger, those who “see”, what they see.
Worth a rewatch to catch all the clues.

The Final Lesson - 2015 - France

The Final Lesson - 2015 - 6/10
AKA - La Dernière Leçon

 
At her birthday party, her 92nd birthday, Grandma announces she is checking out.
Five weeks, then she plans to off herself.  Time enough to settle affairs, say goodbyes.
Family reactions range from despair to apoplectic.
Film does not sugarcoat some unpleasant behavior by offspring.
There are glimmers that Grandma had a history of being selfish, putting her interests before her children.
Once taboo topic has witnessed a spate of end-of-life stories in recent years.

Demon - 2015 - Poland

Demon - 2015 - 6/10
AKA - Dibbuk

 
Python, excuse me, Piotr as he is now, travels to the village of his buddy and his soon-to-be bride, Zaneta.
While helping shift brush with an end loader, Piotr accidentally unearths an unmarked grave.
There is a human skeleton, which he covers up.
Yet the spirit, the soul, emerges, and latches itself – herself – to Piotr.
And the wedding revelries get underway.  Music, alcohol, dancing, alcohol, arguments, alcohol, sex, alcohol.
Only Piotr sees the darkly beautiful wraith, clad in an older style, approaching ever nearer.
The wedding celebrations, evasions and denials, dominate the supernatural elements.
For Americans, there are no explanations.  Only a cryptic history to make your own guess.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3357652

The New Morality - 2015 - USA

The New Morality - 2015 - 6/10

 
Betty, suspicious that her husband might be having an affair, loudly calls the other woman a rude name.
While never quite spoken, let’s say it rhymes with itch.
A scandal in the crusty social set, circa 1911, and slander rears its head.
Both females deploy their husbands as reluctant messengers.
Starchy theatre set aboard a houseboat: cabin below and on deck.
Acid humor, although situations better grasped by those familiar with New Woman feminism.

Prego - 2015 - USA

Prego - 2015 - 6/10

 
“I’m pregnant.”
“Hey, wow.  Congratulations.  Who’s the lucky dad?”
Yeah, without a clue.  I’ve always said it’s a miracle females don’t murder every one of us.
Then again, she shared the restroom quickie with this dunce.
Painfully funny (or horrifying) short of the male / female announcement.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3356246

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.

Blind Lucky - 2015 - Germany

Blind Lucky - 2015 - 6/10

 
Yes, with the right kit, you can jack any car you want.
Even one that belongs to a psychotic, vindictive criminal.
Who, in short order, has you suspended by chains.
And who opens up a new world of pain.
Nasty little short.  Proof of concept for a feature.

JeruZalem - 2015 - Israel

JeruZalem - 2015 - 5/10
AKA - ג'רוזלם

 
Film opens strong with five minutes of ominous backstory, setting the tone.
Which is shattered by two vacationing American girls.  Squealing in the air, on the ground, detouring to Jerusalem.
Both highly annoying, I kept hoping for the Horror element to kick in and for them to get killed.
After some forty minutes in, the narrative darkens, although our girls still sound like a bag of cats.

 
Every scene is shot, point-of-view, from one female’s smart glasses.
Tolerated for a bit, grows staler than travel underwear.
Despite intriguing potential, this is a bungled job all around.
Writer / director brothers Paz clearly view females as stupid, and portray them as such.

Jurassic World - 2015 - USA

Jurassic World - 2015 - 5/10

 
Reboot of Jurassic Park into a giant theme park (20,000+ guests).
There is the money-making park, and there the research InGen, crafting new dinosaurs for military use.
Inside massive containment walls so there is no possibility of escape into –
Wait!  What just happened?
Romance angle does not work, nor do kids in danger.
Dinosaurs are impressive, except they are given anthromorphic personalities.
Please, no matter the size, lizards have lizard brains.
Predictable, family friendly, depending on how much carnage you expose your children to.
Sad that this was beneath derivative.  As is, popcorn for bubbleheads.

Trapped - 2015 - Iceland

Trapped - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Ófærð

 
A body is fished out of the harbor.  Actually a torso.
The body had been chopped up, while the cruise ship anchored nearby.
A vessel apparently engaged in human trafficking.
As for the harbor?  Chinese investors want to transform it into a mega port.
If enough locals are willing to sell their land, to their elected officials in charge.
Icelandic series follows numerous threads on a small island community.
Blizzard conditions mean the tiny police force is on their own.
Inspired plotting in this modern Noir.

Resurrection - 2015 - Argentina

Resurrection -  2015 - 6/10
AKA - Resurrección

Newly ordained priest Aparicio decides he is more needed in Buenos Aires, plagued by Yellow Fever.
Enroute, he decides to detour to his family estate, discovering it all but derelict and abandoned.

 
His brother remains, dying on his deathbed.  His sister-in-law and niece hide in the chapel, terrified.
One servant, taciturn Quispe, tries to warn / assist Aparcio, tend to the family.
Viewers quickly realize the house is beyond healing, beyond redemption.
A slow burn tale of faith, judgment, evil, and the weakness of men.
Perhaps better for those who appreciate the insidiousness of Lucifer, the whisperer of lies.
Few believe in evil nowadays, despite what they witness daily.

The Vote - 2015 - UK

The Vote - 2015 - 7/10

 
Adventures of precinct workers at the local polling station.
The election is a close one, and every vote counts.
One volunteer recalled a previous contest, where the winner won by four votes.
And the constituents stroll in.
Confused, inebriated, argumentative, foreign language speakers, lonely.
A veritable cross section, more or less.
This is a comedy and grows progressively rambunctious.
Mark Gatiss as the local head is a study of bottled emotions, about to explode.
For British film and theatre buffs, this is studded with cameos.
Subtitles = https://subscene.cam/subtitle/3222685

Road Games - 2015 - France

Road Games - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Fausse Route

 
Jack, English, doesn’t understand French.
Otherwise, he would not be hitchhiking in rural France, in front of a sign that warns against picking up hikers.
And he might be aware that a serial killer is extremely active on this lonely stretch.
Fortunately, he meets a stray French girl, also on walkabout.
Then a car stops and the driver, a talkative soul, offers them a ride.
The lies are small initially, as lies so often are.
Convoluted thriller excels in offering numerous shady characters, including Jack.
Similar to Only The Animals (2019) with a tangle of threads that stitch together.

Hollywood Censored - 2015 - France

Hollywood Censored - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - La Censure à Hollywood

This starts in the Pre-Code era, during the Depression.
To gain back audiences, film studios juice up films with sex and violence.
The Legion Of Decency and similar Catholic groups until Will Hayes and Joe Breen tighten the production code.
Documentary focuses on the period from mid-30’s to mid-50’s when the Code was most stringent.
And how studios creatively maneuvered around it.

 
Banter and innuendo replaced risqué situations.  That and a final comeuppance.
As for violence, well, the States have always been extremely comfortable with bloodletting.
Sex, intimacy, not so much.  The doc is in English.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! - 2015 - India

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! - 2015 - 7/10

 
1943 Calcutta, Bakshy is hired to find a missing father.
Instead, he finds WWII intrigue (rising Japan, British rule), drug smuggling, gang battles.
The plot is more convoluted than a Chandler hangover.
Sushant Singh Rajput excellent as the quick thinking detective, often too quick for his own good.
Great villains, obvious and disguised, as well as the English governor watching over his shoulder.
Femme fatales?  Of course, especially the bewitching songbird, Anguri.
Highly entertaining Hindi Noir, underappreciated in India, perhaps owing to the grim tone.

The Danish Girl - 2015 - UK

The Danish Girl - 2015 - 6/10

 
Unsteady biopic of transgender pioneer, “inspired” by Einar Wegener  (Lili Elbe).
30's Danish artist goes from modeling female costumes for his artist wife, then cross-dressing at soirees.
Finally, he decides he was mis-born male and tries to convince medical types he is not insane.
Extremely earnest and correct film rings false on a few fronts.
One, the history is inaccurate - hence the “inspired” tag.
Wegener/Elbe was not the first operation, that was Dora R in 1921.
Eddie Redmayne, exceptional as Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, here is either miscast of suffers atrocious pancake makeup.
Not once could I accept him as female, transgender or cross-dresser.
This reminds me of gay cinema of the early 70's (eg: The Boys In The Band).
Heavily viewed, embraced.  Entertaining as broccoli.

I Smile Back - 2015 - USA

I Smile Back - 2015 - 7/10

 
Well acted across the board, but depressing, disturbing film of mental illness.
Mom (outstanding Sarah Silverman) drinks, pops pills, snorts lines, prowls for men who like doggie.
Stunts and reckless behavior to break the numbness.
Not shown, but probably when she’s on lithium.
When she skips the lith, she swings from belligerent to utterly withdrawn.
Childhood demons might be a cause, or it might be genetic.
Family and friends are trapped with her, or swirling near the edge of her whirlpool.
The soul in a tunnel with no light at either end.