Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Bullitt - 1968 - 8/10

Definitive McQueen anti-hero, exuding cool elegance.
Officer Frank Bullitt assigned to babysit  mob snitch, finds himself set up as patsy for incompetence.
Brilliant procedural as detective and partner pick up the seemingly dead trail, and unravel a brilliant plan.
Film punctuated by three chase sequences, one a legend in movie history.
Wonderful Lalo Schifrin score, gorgeous San Francisco scenery.
Muscle cars at full throttle, terrific stunt driving, no - NO - computer fakery.

Anytime I read about a remake, I cringe, knowing soon-to-be dated music would blare throughout, drowning out the roar of V8s.

[Vultural]

Le Rayon Vert - 1986 - 5/10

French patience tester, extremely well acted, but might strain your endurance.
Recently dumped female (uhh - three years earlier) whines about what to do during summer vacation.
She stays with family - complains.  Visits friends - moans.
Asks for advice, only to disregard.
One of the best / worst moments occurs during an outdoor meal when she - a recent vegetarian - launches into a tirade about meat and animals.
Doesn’t stop her from drinking, however.  And complaining even more.
I always say people get what they deserve.
Sadly, no pianos hurtle from the skies in this one.

[Vultural]

Pulp Empire - 2013 - 7/10

Complete deconstruction and reworking of Empire Strikes Back.
Linear narrative is tossed in favor of flashbacks and foreshadowing.
John Williams score removed in favor of mostly funky blaxsploitation cues.
Bits of New Hope, Return Jedi, Sith, Clones Wars, pitched in the cut, and running time trimmed almost thirty minutes.
Pulp Empire quite the grindhouse gem, with Darth a badass mack daddy.

Trailer:

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by Vultural
uncoded link

[Vultural]

The Town - 2010 - 6/10

Overlooked, street smart caper film from Ben Affleck, with ass kicking finale.
Crime passes from one generation in Charlestown.
Favorite target seems to be banks, which in this film are all helpless as comatose grannies.
Security?  Trained guards?  Hidden surveillance cameras?
Sorry, no, which is rather hard to accept in otherwise realistic script.  
Affleck gets involved with sorta almost witness, while the gang presses for one final haul.
The big one.  The stereotyped “last score,” after which all will lay low and exit crime.
Yes . . . how many times?
Ingenious heist, clinically executed.  Gunfire galore.
Nice location filming, which might be a double-edged sword for some.
Unwary viewers better have subtitles if unaccustomed to nasally New England dialect.

[Vultural]

Angel - 2007 - 6/10

Cracker factory time.
Director François Ozon’s previous English movie, The Swimming Pool, was a razor honed drama about a cynical mystery writer in the vein of PD James or Ruth Rendell.
Angel swings about and follows an Edwardian scribbler of melodramatic, romantic kitsch (based on Victorian powerhouse author, Marie Corelli, now forgotten).
Romola Garai portrays the narcissistic, delusional, borderline insane writer, Angel Deverell.
Garai commits 100% to this role and is wonderful.  You detest her, laugh at her misconceptions, and feel sorry for her.  Her literary success proves there has always been an audience for junk, though the herd will, eventually, shift toward different junque.
For travel sequences, Ozon uses obviously fake rear projection, to show Angel’s addled perceptions.  The house where she lives, Paradise, is spectacular.
Charlotte Rampling, Sam Neill, and Michael Fassbender, top a strong cast.
I enjoyed this a lot, but others around me held a lower opinion, annoyed by the satire and florid production values.  All roundly disliked Angel.
Bad movie fans, rate this much higher.

[Vultural]

Hector And The Search For Happiness - 2014 - 6/10

Simon Pegg as successful psychiatrist who suffers a crisis.  Bored, self-doubt, plain old ennui.
Abandons girlfriend (Rosamund Pike!) to pursue a globe-trotting quest to discover what makes happiness.
Exotic locales, scrapes and escapes, plastic villains, convenient guardian angels.
Fell like I’m shooting BBs at the balloons of a nine year olds birthday party.
The story was diverting, though hackneyed and lighter than sponge cake.
Essentially a feel good travelogue with dollops of greetings card wisdom.
Breezy ... yeah, yeah ... saw it, checked off my list, won’t rewatch in this life.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Cairo Time - 2009 - 7/10

Ravishing looking film for adults of a certain age, who realize Life's opportunities are beginning to close around them.  For most, this begins around age 40.
Magazine publisher (Clarkson) flies to Cairo to meet with husband, who is delayed in Gaza because of "situations."
One gets the impression she has become adrift, children gone, husband away on UN business.  Detached ennui.
She relaxes, explores the area, connects with her husband's ex colleague, succumbs to the charm of the city.
Beautiful views of the Nile, White Desert, pyramids, mosques, the medina, as well as the seedier side.
Lyrical film, recommended to the arthouse crowd, anyone with patience for adult themes.

[Vultural]

Weekend - 2011 - 6/10

Gay cinema.  Two gents meet at a noisy club, leave together, have a fling.
Lot of talking, sharing childhoods, experiences, no different from straight couples.
One suffers commitment anxiety, the other wants to explore the possibility of "what if."
Per title, this occurs during long weekend.  Other reviewers have dropped the love word, assuming a loving relationship can be formed in a weekend.
Casual viewers, some sex scenes might put you off.

[Vultural]

The Lady On A Train - 1945 - 6/10

Silly murder mystery, not without merits, though not, as indicated in IMDB, a Noir in the classic sense.
Deana Durbin’s character sees, or thinks she sees, a murder being committed from her seat on the train.
The police don’t believe her, nor does her favorite mystery writer whom she pesters.
She discovers the identity of the “victim.”  A rich gentleman, his death ruled a suicide.
Heirs include Noir heavy Dan Duryea and smiling Ralph Bellamy.
Several other quirky characters fill the plot, as well as false trails, more murders, quick dialogue.
For fans, Durbin sings a couple standards.
Hard boiled seekers, this ain’t it.
Light hearted fluff, you could do a lot worse.

[Vultural]

The Whistleblower - 2010 - 6/10

Recently divorced mother (Rachel Weisz), loses custody of daughter, and promises to relocate across the country to be near her.
To earn a lot of money, as quick as possible, she hires on with contract firm as UN peacekeeper in Bosnia.
She stumbles into the world of sex trafficking and slavery, and gradually discovers the scope and coverup.  Part and parcel of the latter are the procurers and chief clientele.
Unpleasant film, with beatings and torture, based, sadly, on true events.
The actual contractor was Texas based, DynCorp.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Gun Woman - 2014 - 5/10

Exploitation trash, aimed at the US market, per Los Angeles and desert settings, and a pair of tal****ive American hired guns.
The redeeming element about exploitation - even trash is often enjoyable and this does have potential.
Basic revenge plot, the baddie is a homicidal whack-job, and the anti-hero (known as “The Mastermind”) is cold, clinical, utterly goal focused.
Most of this is explained and described in lengthy exposition between the hired guns.
One asks questions, the other warbles away.  Like a bad infomercial.
The pace is pretty darn slow (ahem, padded), and the limited body count shows signs of budget restrictions.
Gun woman herself might have ten lines of dialogue, though the movie is about her (no, it’s about Mr Mastermind).
Her zero thespian skills are compensated during the final twenty minutes or so, when she performs all her fighting, killing, stabbing, shooting, general bloodlust, stark naked.  No foggy lens, strategic plants, digital manipulation.
All Asami, all the way.
For many exploitation hounds, that will boost overall scores.

[Vultural]

Let It Rain - 2008 - 4/10
Let's Talk About The Rain
AKA - Parlez-moi de la pluie

French pap.
Wayward trio attempts to film pretentious documentary, focusing on the female's political ambitions.  The two males can barely find a lens cap, let alone the start button.
Orbiting around are needy siblings, insecure types, the bored beyond belief.
Interesting looking film, but a fine cast was wasted in a story that plodded nowhere.

[Vultural]

Que la Bete Meure - 1969 - 7/10
AKA - The Beast Must Die

French revenge film.
Single dad’s lone child is struck and killed by a hit n run driver.
Police explore the usual leads, find nothing, extend apologies, return to their lattes.
The father is far more determined, however.  Finds an overlooked clue, stumbles across a witness (who did not see the accident, but saw something related), then hones in on the quarry.
Older film, yet not moralistic, though there is collateral emotional damage.
Also, to me refreshing, this is not revenge-porn which is today’s norm.
My bride always argues, “Revenge doesn’t bring the dead back.  You only wound yourself.”
I always say,  “True, but you remove one more bad guy from the world.”

[Vultural]

Calvary - 2014 - 7/10

During confessional, a penitent confesses to the priest how, as a child, he was abused by a priest.
To feel better, he intends to kill.  Not the priest who violated him, he was a bad man.  No, the priest right next to him, a good man.
“Be on the beach next Sunday,” he states, “so I can murder you.”
Fatalistic story, laden with moral quandaries.  The sanctity of the confession limits what the priest can divulge.
He relates the threat to his monsignor, as well as the local constable, yet not the name of the party.
He is unsure, plus that would be a violation.
Instead, the week eddies past and he advises and counsels parishioners, broken, flawed, or lost.
Community is tight knit and worse than resentful relatives.
Stunning outdoor scenery ... especially along the beach.

[Vultural]

Pride & Prejudice - Having A Ball - 2013 - 7/10

Irresistible documentary for hardcore Janeites and casual Austen fans alike.
This focuses on that key element of the Regency world for the young, the ball.
Dance steps were actually fiendishly complicated, and physically demanding.
Status could be seen in choice of candles, desserts served, as well as clothes.
Speaking of clothes, female knickers were crotchless.  Male clothing was very form fitting, to display . . . mmm . . . simply to display.
Casually mentioned was how increasingly modern, and wrong-headed, modern adaptions of P&P have become.
If you have reread Austen numerous times, if you have multiple film versions of P&P, S&S, as well as Emma, Mansfield Pk, and Persuasion, not to mention L In A (w/ Downtown intact), then this documentary is for you.
You know who you are.  If you are a Janeite, rate this much higher.

[Vultural]

It! The Terror From Beyond Space - 1958 - 5/10

No, from Mars, dammit.  Not beyond space, Mars.
Sheesh, talk about misleading titles.
Supposedly the template for Alien which was why I picked this howler.
Not that I need any help, I select bad films all the time.
So ... spacecraft gets stuck on Mars and waits six months (!!) for rescue ship.
Only the captain survives and he is to be taken back to Earth for court martial.
Ship carries a stowaway, however.  It!
Creature begins to hunt and kill crew one by one.  Especially in the ducts.
For an interplanetary vessel, the ship is well stocked with pistols, rifles, grenades, even a bazooka!
During battles, I was yelling about explosions and oxygen.  What do I know?
OK enough late night time waster, but for fans wanting an Alien fix, this ain’t it.

[Vultural]

Exam - 2009 - 6/10

Eight job candidates are seated in a featureless room.
Simple rules are given.  Such as, if you leave the room, you are disqualified.  If you speak with the guard, you are disqualified.  Then they are given 80 minutes to solve an enigmatic question.
After a few elections, the remaining realize there are rules, yet outside the rules, anything goes.
Treachery, deception, violence.  Personalities unleash. Mind games yield to mob rules.
Taut little suspenser, though feels a wee bit stagebound.

[Vultural]

A Study In Terror - 1965 - 6/10

Sherlock Holmes mystery pitting the sleuth against Jack The Ripper.
Production appears like a proto-Hammer version, rich sets, minimally inhabited.
Splash of blood, sexual innuendo but zero nudity.
John Neville makes a crisp Holmes with a touch of irony.
Very young Judi Dench plays mission worker.
Narrative is no great shakes. The famous detective hunts the infamous ripper.
Final denouement confusing, if not outright lame.

[Vultural]

Mr. Turner - 2014 - 5/10

Dreary biopic had key viewers hollering foul that Spall missed an Oscar nod as British painter J W Turner.
Really, Spall spent most of the film grunting or guffawing, arguably a spot-on portray of the taciturn artist, but hardly compelling viewing.
Fine outdoor photography undermined by boring narrative.
Characters singularly unlikable, and whatever drives them eludes the viewers.
Plot is little more than Turner dabbing oils on canvas, shagging the housekeeper, setting up alternative house, while snorting at relatives, relatives, fellows artists, critics.
A good documentary on Turner would be more recommended instead.

[Vultural]

Punk In London - 1977 - 7/10

On the scene documentary showcasing the early movement at its rawest.
Mixed performances by the Killjoys, X-Ray Spex, Adverts, Clash, Chelsea, Jam, and others I could not recognize.  Top venues and hangouts, the Marquee, Roxy, Rough Trade, mentioned.
Big problem with this is groups were not identified, the audio ranged from OK to murky, and this was a German production.  Aside from interviews, all narration was in Deutsch.
Still, the energy was electric, on fire performances.  Arguably Punk at its creative, freewheeling peak, before the money, the deals, and the compromises.
Terrific doc for many, will leave others baffled.