Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Beware Of Mr Baker - 2010 - 7/10

Absorbing biography of Ginger Baker, the devil of the drums.
Interviews with Bruce & Clapton from Cream, Winwood from Blind Faith, and lots of modern era drummers, who were all influenced by him.  Tons of clips.  Animated sequences.
Baker was a troubled child and a reckless force of nature.  Three of his four wives speak on camera (though wife #4 seemed less than comfortable).  Drug addictions, zero financial sense, and rootless ways keep him skirting near the edge of poverty.  What saves him is his drum kit.  At any age, he can still pound harder, and with more soul and understanding than almost any.
Even in his 70s, Baker is a right piece of work, opening the film by giving his interviewer a bloody nose by smacking him with his cane.  Great moment, I’m so glad it was left in.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

No One Lives - 2012 - 4/10

Another variation on the dead teenager fugue.
Yuppie couple driving cross country runs afoul of small town family gangsters.
Thugs have already shown themselves capable of murder.
That time, however, they chose a psychopath as victim.
Reference title.  Predictable track - whack - splat.
Nothing imaginative or creative about meals.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Predestination - 2014 - 8/10

High concept, Kafkaesque, puzzle plot, brilliantly executed.
Ethan Hawke plays time traveling, Temporal Agent.
His duties are to stop mass murders, terrorist bombings.
For health reasons, agents can only jump in time so often.
Hawke is near retirement and draws out a potential candidate.
Only the candidate has a history of kinks and twists, and therein hangs the tale.
Based on a story by Robert Heinlein.
The script is flawless, the direction taut and lean.  Not a single scene is wasted.
Try to watch without reading too much about this one.
Most people will be unable to resist spoilers.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Le battement d'ailes du papillon - 2000 - 5/10
AKA: The Beating Of Butterfly Wings
AKA: Happenstance

French fluff about the so-called butterfly effect.  Myriad of soul connect, intersect, disconnect.
Well worn myth of how a chance act or word can impact others.
Yes, we think our words or deeds are so important.
This film flits from one loser to another, eventually going nowhere.

I didn’t buy the reactions and interactions, though everyone with me were female, and they did.
In fact, there was a protracted discussion afterward.
For me, Life is random, our choices limited at best.
Everyone else, held that there is FATE and we have choices.
If you are in the latter category, you will rate this higher.
Unforgettable scene involving a cockroach.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Newlyweds - 2011 - 5/10

New York apartment drama from low rent, indie filmmaker, Edward Burns.
Older couple embark on the second marriage.  In no time flat, the groom’s younger, toxic sister arrives from Los Angeles for indefinite stay.  Then the bride’s older, toxic sister, suffers imminent divorce.  Drama drama drama.  There’s also an ex floating about.
Self absorbed characters (though Mr Burns cast himself as the rock of stablity), spouting forced, provocative dialogue.
I’ve sat through worse.
Burns best known for Brothers McMullen.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Stranger On The Third Floor - 1940 - 6/10

Early, early Film Noir.  Perhaps not quite Noir enough for many, but this was definitely one of the stylized bridges between Expressionism and Film Noir.
Reporter’s testimony convicts a man (young Elisha Cook) of murder.
The reporter’s girlfriend feels he might have been innocent.  The reporter suffers twinges of doubt, especially after he sees Peter Lorre skulking in the shadows.
Brief whodunit B-picture from RKO, with ham handed leads, bolstered by an astounding dream sequence.  I had viewed bits of the dream montage in several documentaries, but never the full showcase.  Terrific use of light, shadows, angles.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Mansome - 2012 - 5/10

Sheesh, another Morgan Spurlock documentary.
Male grooming - appearance - how men behold themselves - females point of view.
Shallow work here, that skittered from one topic to another and lingered too long on marginal aspects
(eg: the beard competition).
Beards, mustaches, haircuts, toupees, all discussed for no apparent point.
Men have always grown or worn those - who cares?
Section of the product “Fresh Balls” was funny as anything.
Also the older male comments that the current fad for body shaving is turning men into Barbie dolls.
Film should have followed that path.
Instead this is a time waster with no focus.
Spurlock strikes me as more agreeable than Michael Moore, probably better to have a drink with.
His output, however, causes me to think he has nothing more to say.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Romantics Anonymous - 2011 - 6/10

French fluff.  Romantic comedy of painfully shy woman and man who is afraid of females.
They meet at his failing chocolate factory, where she hires on as a salesman.
Unbeknownst to him, she is a master chocolatière in her own right.
Will she step up?  Will she save the company?  Will the shy pair get together?
Predictable - enjoyable.  And a lot of mouth watering chocolate.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Home For The Holidays - 1995 - 7/10

When I first got married, my father offered sound advice,
“Start your own traditions.”
Growing up, I had witnessed my parents try and fail to do just that.
Season after season, our family bundled into the car and spent the holidays with Dad’s parents or with Mom’s.

Home For The Holidays shows grown children making the yearly pilgrimage to their parents home.
They have already started their own families, their own traditions, their own story, yet it is so hard to break free.
Old resentments surface, siblings who have become strangers - if they ever knew each other to begin with, observing the parents, once so vibrant, growing old, becoming frail.
The Thanksgiving get-together gone to hell.
Movie shifts from laugh out loud funny to poignant to almost desperately sad.
Charles Durning sums up the next holiday nicely,  "I can't wait for goddamned Christmas."

Another reminder of why I never visit my family or Zelda's family during the holidays.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Pieces Of April - 2003 - 7/10

The "other" great, cautionary Thanksgiving film.
Katie Holmes shines as the rebellious, once self-destructive daughter who invites her estranged family to NYC for turkey dinner.
Patricia Clarkson superb as the mother who sadly cannot recall a single warm moment with April, and for whom the expiration stamp is imminent.
Alison Pill as fussy, hovering daughter rounds out a terrific female trio, as the males - all excellent - seem more supporting roles.
While the family drives towards NYC, April realizes the oven is dead.
Warning flags of disaster flap furiously.
Great, memorable film.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Crypt Of The Living Dead - 1974 - 3/10

Spanish production with American leads filmed in Turkey.
Young archaeologist tracks down 700 year old crypt of Hannah, vampire queen.
Betcha didn’t know Hannah was a popular name in 1200.
My box said colour film, credits said Metrocolour, it was still black and white.
Rather good looking Gothic set design and excellent shadows.  OK effect of Hannah swirling into mist when she transforms into a wolf (who moves a helluva lot quicker than she does).
Predictable territory, characters were dreadful bores, pace was glacial.
Could have used more violence and sex.  Vampyres, also from Spain, came out around this time oozing plenty of bodily fluids.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Begin Again - 2014 - 8/10

Two broken souls meet, help each other stand, then run.
Both are bruised artists, victims of commercialization over integrity.
Keira Knightley plays the dumped girlfriend (and songwriter) of singer boyfriend, who is catching fire.
Mark Ruffalo pitch perfect as music exec, once edgy, once influential, now living in failure.
Exquisite location filming in New York as the two record, guerrilla style, in subway, in Central Park, in alleys.
Music is quite good, by the way.  Knightley sings her own.  Her voice, somewhere between twee and shoegaze, is well suited to her character and songs.
Not a love story, but a tale of redemption.  Great date film, nevertheless.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Side Effects - 2013 - 7/10

Effective thriller about "happy pills" and unhappy side effects.
Plays into modern dependency on big pharma and safety concerns.
Must admit I had not read a single review on this one, so the narrative and twists were fresh.
Good suspenser with some diabolical turns.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Giant Mechanical Man - 2012 - 7/10

Nice date flick, though some suspension of disbelief required for this indie film.
Two 30 something career failures meet and begin the like-to-get-to-know-you refrain.
She’s a temp, he’s a street performer.  The city looked empty and lifeless.  Turned out to be Detroit.
As with any romantic comedy (very light on the comedy), enjoyment might pivot on the viewer’s relationship situation.  Lonely souls or those suffering fresh collapses might want to shun.
Cast of mostly unknowns, pushed by appealing leads.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Jenifer - 2005 - 4/10

Erotic horror twaddle from Dario Argento.
Argento’s prime years were decades earlier, so I kick myself for loading this gobbler.
Cop rescues a damsel about to be chopped with a meat cleaver.
She has a disfigured face, though her ripe body curves compensate.
Cop shelters her and discovers she has an appetite for slaughtering others and feasting on hot entrails.
Also that she likes cowgirl riding him senseless till his love gun is empty.  Then mounting for more.
Sensitive souls might be shocked by some of the killings.  Seasoned types, this was a yawn.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Faster Pussycat!  Kill, Kill! -1965 - 7/10

Russ Meyer’s most acclaimed film.
High octane cars n broads dominate a series of stunted or emasculated males.
Plot involves three go-go dancers seizing a teen girl for ransom, then deciding to bump off a lecherous, wheelchair bound coot for his purported stash of long green.
Fantastic fun, and way ahead of its time.
Tura Satana unforgettable as Varla.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Populaire - 2012 - 6/10

Enjoyable French breeze of the annual speed typing contest.
Circa 1959 - since no one owns a typewriter any more.
Great costumes, terrific cars (where did they find so many for outdoor scenes), period music.
No to mention the blatant, sexist attitudes.
Déborah François radiates innocence and trust, but is no pushover, either.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

300: Earth And Water - 2014 - 6/10

Fan-edited film.

Well conceived and sharply executed combination of the two films by Aztek463.
Though the sequel was not as good as the first (weaker heroes, plot less fresh), it boasted a finer villain in Artemisia, as well as larger budget (misused with over the top CGI).
This edit, nicely kept under three hours, interweaves the dual storylines back n forth.
Many of the lulls are removed, leaving this a bit action heavy, but not overly so.
One does get a clear idea of the maneuvering and politics involved,
not to mention the strategies and combats in chronological order.
Well recommended.  Not as good as 300, but this edit does elevate the 300: Rise Empire story.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Starlet - 2012 - 6/10

Quirky indie film of young porn actress who buys a thermos at a yard sale from an elderly, forgetful widow.
Inside the thermos are rolls of hundred dollar bills.  After soul searching, the girl tries to return it only to catch a hateful,  "No refunds!  No refunds!"
Multiple storylines catch direct to the web porn shoots, the old woman's backstory, the young girl trying to buy things and do things for the old lady, the old woman's problems with insurance agents and zoning types.
Several character studies in relationship film.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Burning Paradise - 1994 - 7/10

Ringo Lam kung fu actioner, strong in political overtones.
After the Shaolin temple is crushed, priests and disciples are imprisoned underground in the Red Lotus Temple.  Place is studded with traps, fire pits, torturers, and lording over all is an insane degenerate.
Nudity and graphic violence, particularly to animals.  So beware.
This was one of the Lam’s finest, and one of the bleakest films from Hong Kong.  The colony was to be returned to China in 1999, and there was widespread fear their fate would rival the Shaolin.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Vultural