Peppermint Soda - 1977 - France

Peppermint Soda - 1977 - 7/10 
AKA - Diabolo Menthe

 
Sisters Anne (13) and Frédérique (15) begin the fall semester at the all-girls school.
Teachers range from authoritarian to utterly mad.
Courses, how many ways can one be bored out of your mind?
At school, the pair socialize and gossip with peers. At home, they try to help each other.
This is not feel-good, as theirs is a broken home, and Mom lives within a budget.
Entertaining throughout, and a perceptive glimpse of Paris in 1963-64 leading up to the national strike.

The Fifth Step - 2025 - UK

The Fifth Step - 2025 - 7/10 

 
Luka desires to get sober, stay sober.
His AA sponsor, David, himself a recovering alcoholic, tries to mentor him.
But Step 5, when one acknowledges the damage drink has done to themselves and others is a difficult one.
Luka has problems with trust, with loneliness, with so-called friends.
While David, the wiser, more experienced hand, nurses long-standing stumbles and grievances.
Superbly acted, funny as hell, overloaded with ribald language.

I‘ll Sleep When I’m Dead - 2003 - UK

I‘ll Sleep When I’m Dead - 2003 - 6/10

 
Petty drug dealer Davey has caught the eye and ire of a higher level gangster.
Kidnapped, then raped, the young man commits suicide.
Whereupon his older brother, living incognito for years, reenters the underworld.
Muddling revenge flick stays on slow boil, never catching fire.
Actors are fine; the script seems to lose steam, before evaporating.

Kutob - 2005 - Philippines

Kutob - 2005 - 5/10 

 
The tarot reader warned Erica to be careful.
Her boyfriend is two-timing her and lying to her face.
The new guy … she realizes too late he had been stalking her a long time.
His was an obsessive, territorial, jealous love.  Dozens of texts hourly. 
He is emotionally unstable, fueled by the crazed auntie he lives with.
Wildly over-the-top melodrama veers predictably into blood.

Methanol - 2018 - Czech Republic

Methanol - 2018 - 7/10 
AKA - Metanol

 
Did you know, if you mix methanol with alcohol, the latter cancels out the former?
Creating a cheap, bootleg vodka or rum.  Which you can sell all over the region.
Well, Ruda read this on the internet, so it had to be true!
Leaving those who drink blind, dead, or brain damaged.
Based on actual events where 42 died in Poland and Czech Republic, more permanently damaged.
First part is the con men and hustlers, concocting and peddling, even after knowing the harm.
Second half, the police and prosecutors, following leads as far up and as far out, even to tiny stands.

The Moneychangers - 1976 - USA

The Moneychangers - 1976 - 6/10

 
The king is dead, or at least dying, and the prime heirs apparent pull out their knives.
Chicanery and devious maneuverings at the at a financial institution.
High gloss sleaze might well have inspired Dallas and foretold Enron and Salomon Brothers.
Powerhouse cast (for TV) includes Kirk Douglas, Christopher Plummer, Lorne Greene, Jean Peters.
Deliciously nasty, although this is still expensive soap.
Speaking of soap, a prison sequence is unforgettable.  How it aired on TV is unfathomable.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - 1991 - USA

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - 1991 - 6/10

 
After the loss of a mineral rich moon, the Klingon Empire enters peace negotiations with the Federation.
Ordered, against his will, to shepherd the diplomats is a reluctant Kirk.
Lust for conflict being what is it, expect treachery and misdeeds from both sides.
The last hurrah from the original cast is an acceptable outing.
Plus, with a Shakespeare quoting Plummer, they finally found someone who could ham with Shatner.
For a production that had budget limits, this still looks pretty good.

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles - 2026 - UK

Teeth ‘N’ Smiles - 2026 - 6/10 

 
1969, the Sixties are ending, the dreams, the acid trips.
Molly and the Skins (originally foreskins) play a gig at a small college.
Like most bands, their time, the moment, has moved.
They are passé.  Worse, Molly has alcohol problems exacerbated by burnout.
As the band has dated, so too the relevancy of this play.
Several of the haircuts are from the late 70’s, and the tunes seem likewise.
Audiences now tolerate bad behavior, from musicians, from leaders.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373835

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma - 2026 - USA

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma - 2026 - 6/10 

The small indie director has been offered a big deal.
Helm the reboot of the Camp Miasma slasher franchise and make it less misogynist.
One participant she desires, however, is the old star, now a recluse.

 
So, Kris travels north, into snow and ice, to try and persuade a reluctant icon.
As satire, this is spot on.  The killer, “Little Death”, ridiculous name, matched by its ventilator bucket headgear.
Much time is given to given to discussing / analyzing the trans world and sexual identity.
Slasher fans, ain’t much red meat here, instead tofu and red sauce.

Godfather: Part III - 1990 - USA

The Godfather: Part III - 1990 - 6/10   

 
Michael Corleone attempts to legitimize the family business, but old allies and rivals keep pulling him back.
Michael, now in his sixties, is troubled by guilt (??) amidst other concerns.
While this lacks the punch of the first two films, it does a fair job concluding.
Michael’s sister Connie reveals a tiger, while dead brother Sonny’s son, Vincent, is a piece of work.
Throughout, a fatalistic sense hangs over everyone, and the tone is elegiac.
The Godfather Coda: The Death Of Michael Corleone is the edit preferred by Coppola.

The Rapture - 1991 - USA

The Rapture - 1991 - 6/10 

 
Sharon works a numbing phone line job, yet come night she is a hedonistic swinger.
Drugs, alcohol, empty sex.  Diverting in your teens and twenties, less so as Life turns into reruns.
All changes when she listens to and joins a holy roller sect who believe the Apocalypse is nigh.
Well, there is man time, and there is God time.
Powerful drama, often quite muddy logic wise, but with plenty for atheists and the devout to ponder.
Not the least of which is suffering, obedience, redemption, and free will.

Gemma Bovary - 2014 - France

Gemma Bovary - 2014 - 6/10 

 
Village baker Martin notices the arrival of the English transplants.
The Bovarys, Charles and Gemma.
Martin, who knows his Flaubert inside out, begins to see or imagine parallels between Emma and Gemma. 
Less suspense than one would have imagined.
The Bovary marriage and possible problems glossed over.
Beautifully shot film, and Atherton is radiant, yet the hand of Fate lies heavy.

Dragonfly Eyes - 2017 - China

Dragonfly Eyes - 2017 - 6/10 
AKA - 蜻蜓之眼

 
Qing Ting, training to be a nun, is dissatisfied with ongoing restoration and leaves the monastery.
The abbot warns her that the outside world is more uncertain, more difficult.
She hires on at a diary factory, attracts an admirer, is terminated.
Works at a dry clearing shop, refuses to appease a haughty customer, is fired.
At the restaurant, customers complain and she is released.
Voiceovers and voice actors carry the narrative.
Entire film composed / assembled from hundreds of hours of surveillance videos.

Johanna Enlists - 1918 - USA

Johanna Enlists - 1918 - 6/10 

 
Enlisting … well, not exactly.
For Johanna, she might as well be living in 1418; her life is primitive and backbreaking.
Until the artillery regiment camps on the Ransallar farm in Pennsylvania.
A whole regiment of eligible menfolk.  And she is the lone attraction.
The main two suitors include a handsome lieutenant and a stalwart private.
I assumed going in, that with Mary Pickford and William Desmond Taylor involved, this would be schmaltzy.
This is classic Pickford, and she emotes intensely.
She was also honorary colonel (and godmother) to the 143rd Field Artillery (shown in this).

Tuner - 2026 - Canada

Tuner - 2026 - 6/10 

 
Boy meets girl.  Ruthie is a pianist, aspiring composer.  Nik is a piano tuner, with over-sensitive hearing.
Oh, yeah, Niki also needs money, a sizeable amount for his hospitalized mentor, Harry.
To augment his income, he works as a safe-cracker for a small gang of thieves.
Pitch plausibility out the window now.
Coincidences mount, histories are fabricated to support chance.
Ruthie and Niki had warm chemistry, yet one suspects theirs is a temp hookup.
Probably not the RomCom you were hoping for.

Savage House - 2026 - UK

Savage House - 2026 - 7/10 

 
Sir Chauncey Savage married into his title.
He had been working class trash, while Lady Savage came from a noble, if ruined, house.
Together, they squandered or pawned all remaining valuables.
If only a royal would visit, that would boost social esteem and replenish their fortunes.
This is a gloriously wicked comedy, sprinkled with political observations.
But mostly greed.  Along with avarice, gluttony, lust, thievery.
Not sloth, however.  Their industry could be inspiring.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373306

Dogville - 2003 - Denmark

Dogville - 2003 - 6/10

 
Straight off, I do not like this director.  Genius or misogynist, take your pick.
Grace, on the run from hoodlums, hides in one-horse-town Dogville.
Gangsters pass through and offer a fat finder’s fee for her.
The town permits her to remain as an unpaid servant.  A slave.  Games ensue.
Despite the equivalent of a Pre-Code ending, this is a torturous watch.
It is also not cinema, but plain theatre.

Pride Of The Marines - 1945 - USA

Pride Of The Marines - 1945 - 7/10

 
Boy meets girl.  He’s a confirmed never-going-to-marry sort, she’s no pushover.
Pearl Harbor attack and the boy enlists.
On Guadalcanal, he mows down a company of combatants, but is blinded.  
Rest of the film follows his rehabilitation and determination not to tell the girl.
As if women can be fooled.
A trifle too long, but Garfield is intense and memorable as Al Schmid, real hero.

Souleymane’s Story - 2024 - France

Souleymane’s Story - 2024 - 7/10
AKA - L'Histoire de Souleymane

 
Souleymane is a Guinea refugee trying to get asylum status.
Between an ill-paid gig as a food delivery guy, he takes lessons on how to present himself as a political refugee.
Truth to the point, he has dependents back home, and he is an economic migrant, which nations are declining.
He is cheated throughout, underpaid, lied to, harassed, racing through Paris traffic.
Abou Sangaré is amazing in the title role.  The film is uncomfortable.
I live in the barrio and witness this often.  Neighbors gently shoo these folks along.
Desperate people do desperate things, as told to us by local police.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3373304

The Golden Bowl - 1972 - UK

The Golden Bowl - 1972 - 7/10 

 
Ex-pat Americans live in luxury in Europe.
Affluent, they catch of eye of aristocratic Euro mercenaries.
Including a cash poor prince, who marries a naïve Maggie.
Maggie’s best mate Charlotte, marries Maggie’s father.
We suspect, long before our American friends do, that the prince and Charlotte share an intimate relationship.
Superb adaptation of Henry James’ layered novel.
This may prove too slow for many, yet deception takes time to be exposed.
Avarice, opulence, innocence and experience.