Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Whiplash - 2014 - 7/10

In your face character study of aspiring drummer and drill-sergeant, sadistic teacher.
Film has been surprising to many, though hardly to anyone who ever played in high school band or beyond.
That environment has always been extremely competitive, both within the ensemble itself and during contests with other bands.
The student is gifted and ambitious, which the teacher recognizes, but he pushes him harder.
Profanity, obscenity, bullying, physical violence escalate.
Acting over the top, yet totally in keeping with the tone.
Stellar soundtrack.
Basic familiarity with jazz might enhance enjoyment, though not necessary.

 

[Vultural]

Poetry - 2010 - 7/10

Bitter Korean film of the spirit vs the flesh.
66 grandmother went to clinic for hurt arm, after testing was diagnosed with early Alzheimer's.
She is raising her teenage grandson during the peak rebellion years.
You want to hate the kid, but he is only a teenager.
He is making bad friends, bad decisions, and on the brink of learning the definition of consequences.
The story is the grandmother Mija's, however, trying to protect her grandson, going to class to learn how to write poetry, all while the light of understanding is flickering out.
Well done, not for the ostrich.

[Vultural]

The Two Faces of January - 2014 - 6/10

Sleeper, psychological thriller / mystery based on Patricia Highsmith work.
If you know this particular author, you expect unpleasantness.
Circa mid-60s.  Cheap hustler working female tourists in Athens, encounters a pair of fellow Americans.
Married couple, who are con artists and scammers on a higher level.
The college kid is drifting around, they are on the run.
They begin helping / using each other, each maneuvering for advantage.
Glamorous period clothes, especially appealing on Dunst.
Rugged, rock strewn scenery throughout Greece and Crete underscore the moral bleakness.
No likeable characters in seedy, on-the-run story.

[Vultural]

The Hollies: Look Through Any Window - 2011 - 7/10

Breezy, labour of love biopic of one of the best British Invasion bands.
Interviews Graham, Allan, Tony, and Bobby.  Neither bassist, and focuses on the Invasion era, so that lets out Terry, though the 70s hits are covered.
Hits - heck yeah. Live footage, Abbey Road rehearsals, TV appearances (no US lip syncing).
Accuracy?  Well, conflicts and unpleasantness are completely avoided.
Still nice to hear everyone reminisce and catch footage of the Hollies during their prime.

[Vultural]

Episode V - Overclock - 1980 / 2015 - 6/10
AKA - The Empire Strikes Back - 1980

Extremely noisy and aggressive fanedit.  Straight off, let me declare this ought to be considered a SILENT edit.  The entire audio track has been erased.  Dialogue, music, effects.  Gone, baby, gone.  In its place is a fiery thrash power trio, the Overclock Orchestra.  If this appeals to you, read no further.  Get the edit and crank the volume to 11.

Driving 2.0 metal score, well arranged and played.  As noted by other reviewers, additional sound effects would have been welcomed.  Explosions, blaster fire, crashes, doors, even if relegated to rear surrounds.

The music held my interest for awhile.  The Hoth sequence was cleverly done, with a sly nod to the Williams score that had me saying  “Cool”  out loud.  The opening of Part III, Bespin, featured a brooding riff Joe Satriani would have been proud of.  Such was fleeting, however.  Even during thoughtful or quiet scenes, such as when Yoda mentors Luke, Overclock members grind away, often with little regard to the visuals.

Z-Rock used to scream,  “If it’s too loud, you’re too old!”  I hear that.
Nevertheless, the propulsive Overclock attack will bleed your eardrums.  γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Full thirty minute edit - 

https://vimeo.com/126876193

Edited March 25, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

In A Day - 2006 - 6/10

The cafe is closed for emergency so the boss gives Ashley the day off.
Waiting for the bus, she is approached by a suit who propositions her, insults her, hurls coffee on her.
Two minutes later she meets one of the cafe regulars who goes all out being nice to her.
Breakfast - clothes shopping - posh lunch, each time with a "tiny little confession."
Her chick radar is wailing full bore. Who is this guy and how does he know so much?
Most peculiar meet-cute type of film, with strange turns and odd tangents.
Indie romance worth watching if you can chase it down.

[Vultural]

Loulou - 1980 - 6/10

Purely for sex.
Isabel Huppert dumps stolid, if abusive, husband for layabout, petty criminal stud, Gérard Depardieu.
At this time, GD had not turned into Jabba the Hutt, so naysayers don’t get started.
Little narrative “plot” in typical arthouse fare.  Wife abandons morally restrictive society for freedom in the alleys.
She does have her own money, however, and never worries about rent, utilities, groceries.
Nor sexual diseases, though Loulou is pre-AIDS.
Story never goes anywhere.  Instead characters are symbolic for class and expectation.
No, not a lot of fun.

Viewer note - Depardieu is Loulou (for Louis), and one of his male friends is Lulu.

[Vultural]

The Village - 1976 - 7/10
AKA: Harakara

Theater rep arrives in small rural village, and asks local youth group if they would like her theatrical troupe to put on a play.
The show will not be free.  The villagers must pay costs involved. The show will be expensive.
Many other villages have done this. Most eeked a profit (ticket sales) or broke even. A few wound up in debt.
Refreshingly lo-key film.  No over the top characters.  "Can we afford to do this?" vs "We have to strive.  If not now, when?"
Two hours.  Gorgeous photography.  Small people making quiet journeys.

[Vultural]

Secret Service Of The Imperial Court - 1984 - 6/10

Violent, gory, and downbeat period actioner from late Shaw Brothers era.
The new emperor is preoccupied with plenty of nude girls supplied by the court eunuch.
While he is distracted, the eunuch amasses power, kills rivals, and positions himself as all-powerful.  
Even the elite band of court assassins, the Brocade Guard, falls under his sway.
Except for Sergeant Zhao Bufan, who gets squeezed between duty and righteousness.
Numerous fights accompanied with geysers and severed limbs.
Plot a bit confusing, and the body count is damn near everyone in the film.
Fairly entertaining now, though when released it was considered old fashioned.
Such as - the musical sequence.
Good film if you enjoy Shaw Brothers productions.

[Vultural]

John Cleese: The Alimony Tour - 2011 - 8/10

Aged 71, John Cleese hits the road after being mauled in an ugly and expensive divorce.
Lucky for us, his one man show is sidesplitting funny.
With brief clips from Monty Python, A Fish Called Wanda, The Frost Report, At Last The 1948 Show, Flowery Twats (Hey! That was how it was spelled in episode 11), and Monty Python & The Holy Grail.
Cleese skewers his recent divorce, talks about growing up in boring Weston-super-Mare, and the extraordinary luck that fell his way throughout his early career.
Entertaining as anything, live at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

[Vultural]

Black Sea - 2014 - 6/10

Pay attention to those opening credits - that’s the back story.

Submarine skipper (Jude Law) is laid off.
Actually, the mega maritime salvage organization no longer needs subs.
Then he gets approached for a shady job.
Deep in the Black Sea, a sunken Nazi sub filled with gold.
All he has to do is assemble a crew, half Russian, half West, and retrieve the loot using a derelict Soviet sub.
Communication problems, augmented by greed, transform the crew into factions.
As with all sub flicks, claustrophobic, damp, and gloomy dark.
Decent twists midway, then again late.
Sturdy male cast led by Mr Law, no longer the slick pretty boy, who delivers another gritty performance.

[Vultural]

Z-108 - 2012 - 7/10  (Zombie scale ratings)
AKA:  Zombie 108 or Qi cheng

Just when I worry Asian films have become slick, mainstream, middle-of-the-road bores, along comes a demented throwback to previous times.
Escaped virus turns Taipei into Deadsville.
SWAT team joins gangsters against hordes of lurching, running zombies.
Meanwhile, most of the strippers were captured by sex psychopath and his pet octopus.
Drug use, rampant nudity, chaotic plot, carnage, gore, silliness.

Great scene where obnoxious reporter questions girl,  
"Your whole family has been murdered!  Tell our viewers how you feel. How sad are
you?  Oh, were you bitten?  Aaarrrgggh!!!"

[Vultural]

Gone Girl - 2014 - 6/10

I got stuck watching this, but I knew it would be coming so I never read a single review, comment, blurb.
Only knew it was about a wife who vanishes from a troubled marriage.
That encapsulates the plot, and the less you read or know, the better you may enjoy.
The problems regarding habeas corpus absentia are glossed over.
Unless I missed an update to Law 101, no body = no crime.
Not that that curtails media sharks and the resultant street circus.
Ben Affleck fine as out of his depth, slippery husband, though the film is awash with repellant creatures.
Nasty little time, more or less recommended.

[Vultural]

Doghouse - 2009 - 5/10  (Zombie scale ratings)

Handful of London blokes decide to take recently divorced mate for an outing to Moodley.
Once there, they realize very male is dead.
Murdered by women who have all become ravenous, cannibal zombies (sounds redundant to me).
Mayhem ensues.  Misogynistic and funny.  Lot of lad humour.
Designed more for laughs than gore.

[Vultural]

Still Alice - 2014 - 7/10

Initially, I feared this would be another rehash of Away From Her or Amour, two other acclaimed films about women with degenerative mental decline.  Both of those felt like good-for-you broccoli stories, and I could not relate with or care about the protagonists.
For whatever reason, Still Alice was more engrossing and enjoyable.
The premise is uncomfortable, watching sections of memory and intellect slide away.
Moore disappears into her role of esteemed linguist professor who starts to have trouble remembering words.
Only caveat I might have is these were affluent individuals.  The resources and options they have are beyond half the at-risk population.
Funny, heartbreaking, but not necessarily depressing.

Interviews with creative team a very good extra.

[Vultural]

The English Teacher - 2013 - 6/10

Former star pupil returns to the small town, after flaming out as Broadway's next big playwright.
His family doesn't understand him, but his old English teacher does!  Even better, she helps get his drama produced for the annual school play.
Julianne Moore plays the mid-forties, unmarried high school English teacher.  This is very much her story as she steps out of her comfort zone.
Plot dragged a bit past the midway point, but gracefully avoided the predictable.
Nathan Lane as drama teacher would seem a cliché, but he radiates fun and energy.

[Vultural]

New Battles Without Honor Or Humanity - Part 03 Last Days Of The Boss - 1976 - 7/10

This was it.  The end, no mas, done, finished.
Final film from unrelated spinoff of the acclaimed Battles Without Honor Or Humanity series.
Fukasaku had had enough and moved on to other projects.

This follows an escalating turf war between two mob families.
Even when they try to form an agreement, too much blood has been shed.
Top bosses cannot control their underlings and the film is punctuated with shooting sprees and assassinations.
One of the best moments finds small boss Bunta Sugawara avenging the murder of his leader by going after the rival crew in heavy trucks along a winding mountain road.
The pace in this film is dizzying, with jump cuts and blurry pans.
Characters lie throughout, and many times the viewer is deliberately confused regarding characters, and the narrative itself.
This can be watched as a stand alone episode, with no familiarity with the classic series.

[Vultural]

Priceless - 2006 - 6/10

At a posh resort, drunken gold-digger (Tautou) has a fling with dashing rich young playboy, and dumps her geriatric sugar daddy.
Then realizes the playboy is only the bartender / dog walker!
Bartender quickly emulates her and seeks his own wealth.
Slightly forced French comedy of greedy opportunists and the lonely rich.
Had its moments.  Attractive cast.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Vultural

[Vultural]

Wild Tales - 2006 - 6/10

From Spain and Argentina, six films of vengeance or conflict.
Films vary considerably in quality and enjoyment, and the above is an overall score.  Anthology front loaded with the best and funniest in the first half.
The opening flight cabin sequence is brilliant and laugh out loud as it develops.
The next one about a loan shark, a barely open diner, and rat poison was good.
Then two drivers dueling along a lonely stretch of highway.  Great fun.

Next three less savage, with little to no humor.
Angry man vs a tow truck company.
Hit n run driver and a dead mother and infant.
Wedding reception meltdown.

First three - Yes!
Last three - You have been warned.

[Vultural]

Departures - 2008 - 7/10

After the orchestra folds, unemployed cellist returns to his hometown, where he had inherited his mother's small home / coffee shop.
He answers a Classifieds ad for "Departures" thinking it some sort of travel work.
Wrong.
Departures means the final trip, from this life to the next.  His duties involve making the body appear as lifelike as possible so families can say goodbye.
Moody, quiet film, with peerless Japanese set design.
Academy award winner.  Worth your time, unless the inevitability of death unnerves you.