Ground Swell: The Other Side of Fear - 2022 - USA

Ground Swell: The Other Side of Fear - 2022 - 7/10

 
This opens and closes at Navare, Portugal.
In-between: Jaws, Pipeline, Mavericks.
The big waves, fifty to one-hundred feet.  The monsters.
If you want travelogues or board stunt work, this ain’t it.
This is surf porn, with lots of drone camerawork.
View with the biggest screen you can find.

No Return - 2022 - Canada

No Return - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Aller Simple

 
Who could refuse?  Invite to a billionaire’s private retreat for a weekend?
There are six of them, plus one guest and the helicopter pilot.
Everyone survives a forced landing, then find a lavish, well-stocked compound.
Wait, then there are only five invitees … then four!
No credit given to Christie, yet clearly patterned after And Then There Were None.

Nightsiren - 2022 - Slovakia

Nightsiren - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Svetlonoc

 
Sarlota returns to her childhood village in expectation of an inheritance.
Only there is no such thing.  The home itself burned down years earlier.
Despite cellphones and computers, the village is a backwater.
Inhabitants are extremely superstitious, and Sarlota, the outsider, is soon perceived as a witch.
Meaning, she receives the blame for every misfortune.
Women as scapegoats.  Men with guns and fists.

 
Following a fete, there is an amazing sequence of a full moon sabbat.
Drug induced?  Actual, yet hidden?  There are ever depths to females.

Lucy Worsley Investigates - 2022 - UK

Lucy Worsley Investigates - 2022 - 7/10  

 
In this series, mysteries or myths.
The princes in Richard III’s Tower, Witch persecution, King George’s madness, the Black Death of 1349.
These are fairly in-depth, researching archives, interviewing historians, visiting locations.
Unlike lazy “presenters” Worsley does not pad episodes with pointless drive time or aimless walking.
She has a sly sense of humor, knows her subjects, seldom utters a self-serving opinion.
The persecution of witches (ie: midwives, wise women) arguably the most distressing episode.
Black Death most enlightening, as most confuse with the 1665 London Plague.

The Night Doctor - 2022 - France

The Night Doctor - 2022 - 7/10
AKA - Médecin de Nuit

 
Also called the patron saint of junkies, Dr. Mikaël routinely prescribes Subutex to help them withdraw.
Health officials are investigating the sheer number of scripts he issues … with good reason.
Mikaël is flawed and compromised, committed and faithless.
Neo-Noir set in the gloomy nightscape.
Even during wild revels and celebrations a fog of despair seeps into everything.
A few have complained about predictability.  Noir, Neo-Noir, there is always a fatalistic element.
Mikaël, like all of us, cannot escape his Fate.

Golden Years - 2022 - Switzerland

Golden Years - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Die Goldenen Jahre

 
Aged 65, Peter is handed his retirement balloon and shown the door.
At home, wife Alice is now ready to live!  Travel, meet people, go!
While Peter just wants to stay home.  Fact is, they no longer have much in common.
They board a Mediterranean cruise, where the marriage begins to shred.
Bittersweet comedy of the unpredictable second act.
Divergent expectations, plans for the future, and basic incompatibility.
Surprising turns help this, as well as local color in the ports of call.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3363480

Bis Zum Letzten Tropfen - 2022 - Germany

Bis Zum Letzten Tropfen - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Until The Last Drop

 
International conglomerate Aqua Pura arrives in tiny village Lauterbronn with a pitch.
You have mass reserves of underground water.  How about selling?  Create jobs?
Alas, for the residents, their mayor is an uninformed, unable to learn, dunce.
Even when family members and friends urge him to “read about this company, see what they have done!”
He relies on government officials, ignores drought, climate change.
The narrative is a foregone nightmare.

I warbled at this pompous suit throughout.  Years ago, our region witnessed the invasion of frakkers.
Communities were misled, frakking companies refused to disclose chemicals pumped down, or how the aquifer will be safeguarded.  When water is contaminated, who will remedy it?
Never sell your water.  Leash your politicians; they promise everything, but are weak and greedy.

The Jangling Man: Martin Newell Story - 2022 - UK

The Jangling Man: Martin Newell Story - 2022 - 6/10

 
Meandering documentary (fitting actually) of the iconoclast musician and poet who shuns the music biz.
Youth barely mentioned, read “This Little Ziggy”.  Bands are checked, with tune snips.
Mostly, this is Newell in his home studio, accent on home.
Plenty of talking heads, primarily musicians, certainly not the London critics.
Giles Smith seems a big omission.
While this rambles, by the end you have a good feel for Martin as an individual.
Fans of Newell ought to bump my score a couple points.
Never heard of him, but like vintage pop and psychedelia?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heKeeC_ADcA

Between Riverside And Crazy - 2022 - USA

Between Riverside And Crazy - 2022 - 7/10

 
Retired beat cop Walter Washington survives in his rent-controlled apartment.
His landlord wants him out, and his ex-con son Junior (Common) worries about eviction papers.
There is a young moocher who runs errands, and pushy church types.
Excellent ensemble of forces urging the old man to leave.
To accept payouts, to compromise.
Funny as well, with a jagged edge.
Stephen McKinley Henderson anchors this throughout as the lovable, cruel, obstinate, lonely, Walter.

Darby And Joan - 2022 - Australia

Darby And Joan - 2022 - 6/10

 
After a calamitous off-road accident, Joan gives Darby a lift.
Which sorta grows into an extended road trip.
Ex-nurse Joan has arrived from England to find out why her husband died in Australia.
What was he even doing down under?  After all, he told her he was in Spain.
Fortunately, Darby is an ex-copper.
Sundry adventures and mysteries each week, with new clues about Joan’s dead husband.
Who, apparently, kept a lot of secrets.  Big ones.
Enjoyable series.  Stars Greta Scacchi and Bryan Brown click.
Last episode introduced John Jarrett for a S02.

Jane Anger - 2022 - USA

Jane Anger - 2022 - 5/10

 
Jane is the “dark lady”, muse for Shakespeare’s sonnets.
After a brief introduction, she disappears for much of the play.
Instead, we have the bard and his boorish go-fer huddled in their one room.
Will’s pen has run dry.  He recalls old triumphs, yet suffers writer’s block.
Jane does eventually reappear, as does Anne Hathaway (the wife).
For a feminist work, the females don’t do much; wife Anne is inaudible.
The humor is silly, primarily delivered by the men, who show razor rapport.
Forced farce, tries too hard to be funny.

Gannibal - 2022 - Japan

Gannibal - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Gan'nibaru / /ガンニバル

Officer Agawa is transferred to sleepy village of Kuge.
He carries a history and superiors hope the tranquil mountain area will sort him.
The previous village officer had disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
As far as peace and calm, the area is a festering web.
Inhabitants live in fear of the Goto family, amidst whispers of cannibalism.

 
Officer Agawa is a piece of work, however, and not one to back down.
Series (7ep) explores the dark side, is punctuated with explosive violence.
Ends on a cliffhanger, although S02 has finished airing.

We’re All Gonna Die - 2022 - Canada

We’re All Gonna Die - 2022 - 6/10

 
Yes, one way or another.  All men are mortal.
Host Baruchel angsts over mass events: pandemic, nuclear war, global warming, alien invasion.
He is a Chicken Little ninny, overdramatizing constantly as if he were unboxing for his mommy.
The idea of mass annihilation has already been covered more thoroughly and less foolishly in How To Survive The End Of The World (2013), minus the pity party indulged in here.
Should this get rebooted – again – please let Philomena Cunk have a bash at it.

Medusa Deluxe - 2022 - UK

Medusa Deluxe - 2022 - 6/10

 
Eve of the competition, one of the stylists, predicted to win, is murdered.
Backstage, contestants and models begin to speculate.
Muddying theories is the fact that the victim, a male, had his hair scalped off.
Dialogue driven mystery, listen and keep up!  Broadly drawn characters ease identifying.
Tour de force camerawork appears to be one-take.
Engaging while underway (although I could have dispensed with the final dance video).
Might pair pretty well with Blow Dry (2001).
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3358740

Riesending - 2022 - Austria

Riesending - 2022 - 6/10

 
Riesending, as in the massive cave labyrinth in Germany, somewhat explored.
Josef is injured in a rockfall, his skull cracked with internal bleeding.
After a 12 hour climb, one of his companions reaches the surface and seeks help.
Officially, the job belongs to Mountain Rescue, only they are inexperienced with caves.
Professional cavers arrive from Austria, from Italy, even further, yet they are sidelined.
The German Ministry does not want to appear incapable.  Delays and excuses go into days.
The caving scenes are accurate and well done (I caved myself for 15 years).
What gets on one’s nerves and drag the film are the surface arguments and doubletalk.
Barely mentioned in one text is the cost to taxpayers of having to rescue an outdoor adventurer once again.
(The rescue ultimately was €1 M, and the “rescuers” left behind 1 ton of garbage inside the cave.)

Creeper - 2022 - USA

Creeper - 2022 - 6/10

 
Jason’s home life is in tatters.  Mom and abusive Dad spit violent arguments.
Money, no one is earning any money.
Terrible as that is, Jason is also being stalked, by one who seems straight from his sketchpad.
Short thriller of home invasion, rotten parents, and the intruder.

Black Butterflies - 2022 - France

Black Butterflies - 2022 - 6/10
AKA - Les Papillons Noirs

 
Trendy author “Mody” suffers writer’s block.
That is the only reason he accepts a commission to ghost write some aging nobody’s life story
Except, as the plot unfolds, the old man is an uncaught serial killer.
He and his female partner had slashed a trail of blood and sex across Europe.
Hearing the history, the callousness and violence begin to seep into the writer.
Troubling mini-series loaded with graphic violence and sexual configurations.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

This Is Christmas - 2022 - UK

This Is Christmas - 2022 - 7/10  

 
“Since we all take the same train every day, I’d like to invite you to the first annual Christmas party for passengers in this compartment.”
Ah, the chance gesture of goodwill and holiday bonhomie.  Inviting absolute, total strangers.
Adam’s cynical girlfriend warns they are likely psychopaths, drooling homeless, or insistent fundamentalists.
Nevertheless, he feels somewhat unmoored this season and reaches out.
British Rom-Com manages to be farfetched and predictable.
Yet, it is a charming, feel-good story, and one of the best ones in the past few years.
Hallmark has so saturated the season with syrup and formula, it is worthwhile to mention rare quality.

Violent Night - 2022 - USA

Violent Night - 2022 - 6/10

 
Santa, disillusioned with another crop of holiday ingrates, gets sodden at the pub.
Before climbing into the sleigh and later inadvertently crashing an unmerry heist.
High tech band of thieves have invaded the maximum security fortress of the ultra rich.
Bludgeoned proceedings are stuffed with black-humored comedy.
Couple of mushy bits that sog the dash-along pace, but these are few.
For those who appreciate Yule mayhem, there are nods to perennial favorites.
Prefer Christmas crimson of the splashed kind?
Suffer no guilt.

To Kill A Tiger - 2022 - Canada

To Kill A Tiger - 2022 - 7/10

 
“She should just marry one of the boys.  That would solve it.”
So say the village females, after a 13-year-old child is attacked and raped by three men.
You read right, their “solution” is for her to marry the rapist.
Her father, Ranjit, decides to press charges, unheard of in India, where females are routinely raped.
Documentary observes the indifference, then ostracism by neighbors.
There are outside support groups, seen simply as “outsiders”.
Court, as is most nations, is agonizingly slow.
Throughout, “marry your rapist” is offered as the wisest counsel.
Significant watch, especially for fathers with daughters of any age.