Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Dream House - 2011 - 4/10

Daniel Craig quits job to write and move to small town with wife Rachel Weisz and two daughters.
Happy laughter one moment, followed by outdoor peepers, prowlers, teens breaking in, and learning their home was the site of a gruesome mass murder.
Like couples everywhere, they decide to stay put.

The plot twists all over itself, several times.  Pretty clear the writer or editor mangled a good premise too often, leaving the viewer watching a mess.
Naomi Watts plays divorced neighbor.

[Vultural]

Poulet Aux Prunes - 2011 - 7/10
AKA - Chicken With Plums

Overlooked arthouse film exudes dreamlike atmosphere.
French film, with French leads, but the setting is Tehran and so is the story.
Renowned violinist loses his will to live after his beloved instrument is destroyed.
Film tracks his final eight days, each day filled with flashbacks and music.
The tone skips from comic to poignant to heart-breaking.
One views this more for images and scenes.  The colour selection is radiant.

On a cerebral level, logic is subservient to plot.
- POSSIBLE SPOILERS -
Meaning, for twenty years main character was globe-trotting concert violinist, suddenly he is a school teacher?
Or - when he decides to die, no one intervenes to stop him?

That said, the film does state from the onset,
“Persian fairy tales always begin this way.”
Viewed that way, one should suppress skepticism and simply enjoy.

[Vultural]

Def Leppard - In The Round - 1989 - 7/10

The group was at their pinnacle here, touring the Hysteria album.
Well photographed, crisp sound mix, nonstop wall of hits.
This is a perfect time-capsule for the pop metal / hair metal era of the 80s.
Def Leppard and Van Halen were arguably the top of the heap.

Within two years, Grunge would sweep that era away like molten lava.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNFQw8VIvA

[Vultural]

To Rome With Love - 2012 - 5/10

Woody Allen film is homage to classic Italian cinema.
All star cast includes Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Roberto Benigni, as well Allen regulars and many Italian stars I did not recognize.
Multiple storylines, none of them interacting with each other. Film felt more like a series of sit-com moments.
Postcard photography of Rome.
Typical of Allen, hit n miss, heavily on the miss.  Unsympathetic characters do not help.

Note:  I am not a major fan of Italian cinema, though you can tell Allen is.  He tries hard, perhaps too hard.

[Vultural]

Your Sister's Sister - 2011 - 7/10

A year after his brother's death, Jack accepts an invite by best friend Iris (and his brother's girlfriend) to straighten out at her island cabin.
Also at the cabin is Iris's half sister, Hannah.
Hannah is gay, but she and Jack start tossing back tequila . . .
Confused yet?
Slow film, over talky at the intro, but rewarding.
Definitely of this current age, characters react to situations and traps that earlier generations would have shunned, repressed or murdered.

[Vultural]

Death In A French Garden - 1985 - 6/10
AKA - Péril en la Demeure

Unemployed male ca tnip becomes guitar tutor to daughter of wealthy parents.
The wife initiates an affair almost immediately.
In the cafe, new neighbor (female) talks suggestively of differences between the brunette bush and the blonde bush.
Also, in the cafe, the waitress leans forward (twice) to display swaying charms.
Did I mention his pupil was a rich daughter?  Does she want him also?  Ha, silly.
For all that, this is not a sex comedy.
Surveillance VHS tapes appear, suggesting blackmail.
Really, don’t people, even adulterers, bother with curtains?
Tone steadily darkens (reference title) as traps from various partners snap down.

[Vultural]

Witchcraft X - 2000 - 3/10

I ought to have my head examined.
Watched this winner because Anita Page was in it.
Miss Page was one of the last working Silent Era actresses.
She appeared in three scenes, wearing nightgown and hairnet. Probably filmed at her nursing home.
"Plot" is of a trio of drama students who get possessed by witches then do lots of bouncing to raise a lesser demon and open a doorway to Hell.
Most of the spawning is of the topless variety, as the babes grind away sporting black panties.
These were not exactly top tier thespians.  In one scene I found myself trying to read the titles on her bookshelf, while the gent, laying passive under her Spinal Tap loins, tried to keep from yawning.
Hold yourself back.

[Vultural]

French Quarter - 1978 - 5/10

Exploitation sleaze succumbs to artistic overreach.
Young girl, after burying pa, leaves the bayou and catches first bus to New Orleans.
Being blonde, shapely, and wearing a granny dress that is see-through against the light, the only job position she is able to find is stripper in a cheap club.
This part held my interest, though that girl as dancer is godawful.
Nice outdoor photography of late 70s New Orleans.
All too soon, she wants out and goes to an apothecary shop, where she is promptly drugged for sex traffickers.   
Then - outta nowhere - she wakes up in a sporting house in 1910, Storyville district.
Her role is the same, though, to be auctioned off as a genuine virgin.

Abundant nudity in the brothel, voodoo dancers out in the woods, and a busy snake add some interest.
Nevertheless, the plot crawls into love territory and the narrative stumbles like a weekend drunk.
Piano player in the bordello is Jelly Roll Morton.  The small boy playing the cornet, Satchmo Armstrong.
Oh yeah, the 1910 scenes are all fuzzy around the corners.  Artsy.
Anyway, the vintage period goes on and on and on, numbing the sleaziness of the 1970s.
I got the impression they were striving for Pretty Baby.
Cast includes Bruce Davison and Virginia Mayo, with music by Dick Hyman.

[Vultural]

Perversion Story - 1969 - 5/10

Also known as One On Top Of The Other.
With either title, I had such expectations.
Late 60s, glossy Italian trash about philandering doctor and swinging babes.
All set in groovy San Francisco.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz . . .
Oops, did I fall asleep?
Boring soap opera, too much talk, one artsy lovemaking scene, zero counter-culture (huh!), plot more tangled than Cher's hair in a wind tunnel.
Not nearly the fun I was expecting.

[Vultural]

Hunger Games - 2012 - 4/10

I delayed watching this for the longest time.
Comments from fellow Asian flick fanbase held me off.  Constant mumbling about this being a mere ripoff of Battle Royale.
Fears unfounded, it was not an imitation of Battle Royale.  Neither was it a passable action romp.
Instead it was a boring character study, minus (according to friends who read the novels) vast chunks of narrative.
As an action film NOTHING happened for the first hour. Blame the screenwriter, blame an inexperienced director.
Contrasted to Fukasaku (BR), who was a master of staccato violence and relentless movement, Ross's HG was leisurely and spare.
One memorable scene involving bees (wasps, hornets) he milked for several slow minutes. Gibson covered similar territory in Apocalypto far more effectively and efficiently in 15 seconds.
Hunger marketed itself as a big budget actioner, it was not.
I could rate it much lower, but my expectations were already lower than dirt.

[Vultural]

Not Waving, But Drowning - 2012 - 6/10

Almost tempted to bump an extra point for style and music alone.
Story of two friends heading off to New York, entering glamorous territory.
At the last minute, the father of one girl refuses to let her go.
Dual narratives from then on.
One girl struggles in New York, meeting dirt types, as well as better souls.
Left behind, the other girl finds work in an assisted living home for seniors.
Both try to stay in contact, but everyone knows how hard it is to stay connected with texts or phone.
Even as they miss each other, you realize they are on different currents, drifting apart.
After awhile*, this held my interest.  The movie is very much female oriented, though, and women tend to respond and relate more strongly to this.

*awhile = An unrelated short film precedes the movie.
Apologists are defending it, but it does not fit, is slow and boring.
It only runs 15 minutes.  Fast forward if you start nodding off.

[Vultural]

Two Days In New York - 2012 - 5/10

Julie Delpy transplants the Two Days In Paris followup to New York.
Chris Rock is new boyfriend. Her crazy family visits and gets into farce situations.
I think she was aiming for Woody Allen territory, but misstepped badly.
Many really enjoyed this, I was disappointed.

[Vultural]

O Noapte Furtunoasa - 1943 - 6/10
AKA - One Stormy Night

Rumanian comedy, filmed in the middle of World War II, which aroused my curiosity.
Set in the 1860s, a jealous husband suspects his wife of infidelity.
The chief culprit seems to be a sissified dandy, who always turns away from the man’s glare.
The only one he trusts is his live-in assistant, and from the opening scene we know how very wrong he is.
Narrative moves quick and plunges into silliness numerous times.
Several of my favorite sequences occur in the music hall - which, alas, were not translated.
In fact, the few subtitles available are only “fair” at best.
A cursory glance online suggests this is a classic, as there is a recent theatrical version on YouTube, as well as a TV production from the 80s.
The comical proceedings amused me, but the poor subs proved tedious.

[Vultural]

The Tall Man - 2012 - 5/10

A lot of Horror buffs kicked this one because it defied conventions.
Because it was a Thriller, not Horror.
This started off well, creepy, and the plot knotted and twisted every ten minutes.
Absolutely no idea who the Tall Man was, or why he was abducting children.
Near the end, the tension dissipated as the narrative unwound in a most unsatisfying manner.
There was a 7 movie in there. Too bad.

[Vultural]

Star Trek - Renegades - 2015 - 6/10

Eagerly awaited fanfilm exploring the underbelly of the Trekverse.
Plot involves embittered souls erasing worlds rich in dilithium crystals.
Walter Koenig plays Admiral Chekov, though his character seems more aligned to Bester of Babylon 5.
Along with Tuvok (Tim Russ - who also directs) they “authorize” a ship of outlaws and misfits to investigate.
Battered cliché, true, but that’s the imaginative hook the writers devised.
Unlike most Trekverse tales, this is quite heavy on action and seldom dull.
After the opening (yawn inducing sitting and scribbling) the narrative barrels along for 45 minutes, pauses, races to the finish.
The story is so brisk, one cannot dwell on plot holes.
This ain’t your father’s Trek.  Darker and more violent.
Starfleet Captain Alvarez shoots first, lies in ambush, ignores boundary lines.
Good costumes, top notch models and special effects, lame CGI.

Entertaining.  Better than most fanfilms I have watched.
A tighter, more thought out script would have improved this.

One of my issues with Trekverse is how privileged species travel about in magical spaceships, yet half of the lesser members live in dirt.  Caves, tunnels, dirty prisons.
Unless you belong to Starfleet, you are - what? - swine?

[Vultural]

The Mystery Of Edwin Drood - 2012 - 6/10

Yet another adaptation of Dickens' final, unfinished work.
Production values were top notch. I wondered about some of the characterizations.  Rosa and Helena, for example.
The ending was plausible, better than others I have seen.
Good rainy night film.  Want a larger helping?  “Drood” by Dan Simmons

[Vultural]

Sharknado 3 - Oh Hell, No! - 2015 - 4/10

Unfortunately, most members of the household are really into this series.
Each installment, apparently, has a greater budget, indicated by improved effects and photography.
Also dozens of cameos, probably working for nothing or scale.
What is slipping away is heart and goofy humor, replaced by winking calculation.
Attempts are made at explaining the “sharknado effect,” which indicates numerous future installments.
Concepts remains the same.  Sharks in twisters, culling stupid members of society who can’t find shelter.
If you bought Jamie Foxx as President in one film, you will have no problem with Mark Cuban as President here.
Aarrgghh . . . just read Sharknado 4 is in the works.

[Vultural]

Football's Fight Club - 2002 - 7/10

Two part BBC documentary about the rise of football hooligans in the 70s.
Casuals, firms, riots on the island and abroad.
Comprehensive and well done.
The copy I saw left much to be desired, as it came from a YouTube broadcast.
Essential viewing for UK friends to look for themselves!

[Vultural]

L’Étudiante - 1988 - 6/10

Breezy French romance.
Ambitious student, bracing for exhausting finals, enters steamy affair with musician.
Each barely has time for the other, even making time is possibly career destroying.
Yet they recognize they share a spark and recklessly hold onto the relationship.
They chase across the region trying to carve time for themselves, then hurry back to the classroom or concert appearance, exhausted.
A young Sophie Marceau is pouty and luscious.
Quite an 80s film, from music, to clothes, to the photography, to makeup, to the romantic attitudes.
One can’t help but wonder how much desperation has been lost in our digital era of love via the phone.

[Vultural]

Damsels In Distress - 2011 - 5/10

Forgettable "comedy" about a group of girls who man the Suicide Prevention building at Seven Oaks College.
Completely all over the map, as the damsels try to improve fellow students, educate frat boys, succumb to romantic perils, invent dance routine.
Dialog preposterously overwritten, arch and conflated.  Nobody - nobody - talks like that. Not even in a Shepard or Stoppard play.
I saw this because I had enjoyed director Stillman's previous works (Metropolitan, Barcelona, even Last Days Of Disco), but those were all from the 90s.
Damsels reeks of comeback desperation.