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Free Guy (2021)
WORE ME OUT...& NOT IN A GOOD WAY...!
A 2021 comedy which could be described as Tron meets Wreck-it-Ralph has Ryan Reynolds as a rosy eyed optimist who is an avatar in an interactive videogame who suddenly gains awareness. Enter the object of his affection, played by Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, who has an agenda of her own as she tries to find the gamecode, currently being stashed away by the company man, Taika Waititi, so she can publish for free to the public at large. In the real world, Comer, now playing her user, & her on-again & off-again game programmer boyfriend, Stranger Things' Joe Keery, both scramble to get this information out before Waititi can unleash a sequel to the masses w/inherent bugs & all. Reynolds now the talk of the web since his newfound sobriety has made him popular, partners w/Comer to save the day all the while living his avatar life to its full potential. Maybe using a real game (Sims, Fortnight?) would've gotten me more in tune here but being such a standard take on an open world environment peppered w/Reynolds' typical motormouth quippy delivery left me feeling kind of non-plussed as the CG & over-caffeinated story-line plumb tuckered me out.
Muerte de un ciclista (1955)
NOIR SPANISH STYLE...!
A 1955 Spanish language film (from Spain) which finds a well to do couple (Albert Closas & Lucia Bose) hitting a bicyclist on the road one night & decide to flee from the scene of the crime. Once back in their respective corners (Bose is married & stepping out w/Closas) they both descend into their own moral quandaries w/Closas guilt ridden (heading to the victim's neighborhood to find out about the man) while Bose is blasé about the whole thing even though a hanger-on in her social circle insinuates he knows what happened. Closas is inconsolable however even suggesting towards the film's end to turn themselves over to the authorities which doesn't end well for him. Getting much mileage from guilt, director Juan Antonio Bardem (who turns out to be an uncle to Oscar winner Javier Bardem) milks the moody lighting for all its worth w/winning performances across the board especially Bose who is perfect as the femme fatale.
The Cameraman (1928)
HEY SAD SACK, TAKE MY PICTURE...!
Buster Keaton's 1928 silent comedy. Trying to eke out a living in the titular profession, finds Keaton at first meeting a secretary, Marceline Day, who he quickly becomes infatuated with so much so he gets into debt buying a camera set up which takes him a bit to get a grasp of (evidenced when he hears about a fire & ends up hitching a ride w/a random firetruck back to its station). The relationship between Keaton & Day starts moving in fits & starts w/a date at a public pool more event filled for Keaton (losing his oversized suit in the pool) but when Keaton finds himself during a riot in Chinatown, he's lucky enough to be in the midst w/his camera & a former organ-grinding monkey (?) to catch the fracas but when he shows up at Day's office (she works for a news concern) to sell his wares, it turns out he never loaded a film magazine in the first place or did he? Keaton rightly in some circles gives Chaplin a run for his money w/this whimsical take on the burgeoning profession which at this point must've been brand new w/Keaton's deadpan visage enough to sell the comedy w/out any physical antics to embellish any given scene makes this a winner.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
RITCHIE'S DOES LEONE...?
Guy Ritchie's latest (Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels/Snatch) is brilliant homage to Leone-esque WWII yarn which coincidentally is based on some real-life people currently in cinemas. Doing the dirty jobs no one will do (& for which England would not even acknowledge if caught) a merry band of assassins & monkey wrenchers led by Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer & Hero Fiennes Tiffin who are soon joined by fixers Eiza Gonzalez & Babs Olunsanmokun to thwart the German U boat effort by destroying some of their supply ships moored near a Spanish isle run by a German businessman Til Schweiger, loyal to the Reich & a Spanish commandant, Henrique Zaga. Having their plan down pat & w/all the players in position the siege is on but when at the last minute they find out the ship's have been recently been retrofitted w/extra metal plating making demolition a nonstarter makes the demo mission a heist which is gleefully over the top (Ritchson gets his Reacher on w/all comers sometimes w/a thrusting knife) w/a score which sounds like Morricone in his heyday makes this a glorious popcorn time to be had at the theaters. Also starring nominal British American Cary Elwes as the team's contact in the military, Rory Kinnear essaying Churchill & Freddie Fox (late of Apple +'s Slow Horses & himself son of actor Edward Fox) portrays Ian Fleming who is said to have patterned James Bond after some of the team members.
Monkey Man (2024)
PATEL'S OVERSTUFFED REVENGE...?
Oscar nominee Dev Patel ventures behind the camera (also starring & co-writing) this India set revenge yarn. Coming from meager straits, Patel has had to make his way to the big bad city (since we see in flashback, he was a country bumpkin at heart) now a masked fighter who's not making a much of a dent on the fighting circuit but when he comes in contact w/a lawman, Sikander Kher, who torched his village & raped/killed his mum, he decides to put an elaborate plan in motion (getting in good w/a woman club owner, Ashwini Kalsekar, who he returns a purse back after we see a montage of different hands the purse went through ending up in his paws) getting a job bottom rung level style setting his plan in motion where he makes some plusses holding his own against some of Kher's hordes but when he gets hurt & finds himself in a nearby village to recuperate, a holy man counsels him on his journey to become a freedom fighter whose fight is a good one, Patel redoubles his efforts (cue the training sequence montage) leading to a showdown w/Kher in a no holds bar pugilist clutch. Maybe too much, at least for me, an effort for Patel to take on ultimately wore me out when you take a John Wick style narrative of comeuppance layered w/attacks on India's caste system, the have's & the have-not's, the hero as spiritual savior, et al made me feel the way my eyes do whenever I glance at the offerings at an all you can eat smorgasbord. Oooh, I need some cinematic pepto! Also starring Sharlto Copley as the ring announcer in Patel's bouts.
Shûbun (1950)
NO PICTURES, PLEASE...!
Akira Kurasawa's (Yojimbo/Seven Samurai) 1950 drama about an artist, Toshiro Mifune, who is caught in a photograph w/a famous musician, Yoshiko Yamaguchi, prompting a gossip mag to move units as people start to believe an illicit affair occurred (when it didn't). Mifune, miffed at the attention, shows up at the rag's offices & bops the editor one prompting a low level lawyer to come out of the woodwork, Takashi Shimura, who volunteers to sue the paper which Mifune & Yamaguchi agree to but what the plaintiffs don't know is that the gossip mag has Shimura in their pocket (paying off & feeding his gambling habit) & him having a sickly daughter doesn't help his financial situation either which makes the subsequent trial particularly nail biting as we wait for Shimura to finally do the right thing. Kurasawa puts his stamp on something other directors like Frank Capra would've played for laughs but by inserting this sadsack attorney into the mix, the film is deepened for the better elevating the material in spite of itself.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
AN EPIC CLOSING...?
Now streaming on Netflix is Zack Snyder's (Sucker Punch/Dawn of the Dead) follow-up to his mega-opus from last year which wraps up his Seven Samurai homage (poorly constructed theft?) as the heroes make a stand against the evil Galactic Empire, sorry Imperium, on a moon whose people are trained to fight the good fight w/the ultimate clutch between the good Sofia Boutella & evil Ed Skrein taking place on an imperial cruiser. Snyder at the outset never did himself any favors by espousing how 'original' his take on Kurasawa canon was when others like John Sturges & recently Antoine Fuqua managed to take his samurai epic & transplant it to the old West but even if you're argument leans on his melding samurai adventures w/a sci-fi aesthetic, sorry Roger Corman got there first w/1980's Battle Beyond the Stars.
Between Heaven and Hell (1956)
WAGNER SHINES IN THIS WWII YARN...!
Robert Wagner stars in this WWII yarn where a privileged land owner or 'cropper' who's been a bit of a cad w/his workers on his land back home (strangely all white!) but once he gets to the battlefront, surrounded by people he knew back home, namely his commanding officer & father-in-law, played by Robert Keith & even one of his comrades in arms, played by L. Q. Jones, one of Wagner's croppers from back home, his attitude changes as he begins to realize everyone deserves a fair shake no matter what strata they come from. As the fighting intensifies, Wagner starts to develop battle fatigue (PTSD to be more accurate) even though he still finds his nerve to be a worthwhile soldier (even after an incident where a comrade accidentally, out of fear, mows down his own men, Jones included!). Wagner snaps & beats the man within an inch of his life & is sent out to a remote bungalow run by a crass Captain, played by Broderick Crawford, who runs ramrod over his men but even w/that Wagner proves his mettle when during a recon mission he spots a large platoon of Japanese heading in their direction which proves catastrophic when Wagner's best bud, played by Buddy Ebsen, is hurt while they're defending a foxhole prompting Wagner, also shot & wounded, to race back to safety to get the Calvary to save the day. Directed efficiently by Richard Fleischer (The Narrow Margin/The Boston Strangler) who knew how to meld characterization w/action gave Wagner a fine platform to build upon. The solid supporting cast which features Brad Dexter, Harvey Lembeck (who would be the go to baddie in the Beach Blanket Bingo movies) & Frank Gorshin (The Riddler from TV's Batman) all contribute even in the smallest of performances.
Greta (2018)
A MISFIRE FROM A MASTER...!
Neil Jordan's (The Crying Game/Interview w/a Vampire) psycho-thriller from 2018 starring Chloe Grace Moretz & recent Oscar nominee & French treasure Isabelle Huppert. Moretz finds an expensive handbag while commuting by train one day & finding an ID w/an address inside decides to return it. Huppert is gratified by the bag's return & they soon become fast friends where Moretz upon hearing about a passed away pet drags her down to a pound to adopt a pooch that's about to be put under. Moretz is happy to be engaged w/Huppert since her own mother passed away years before & she has a chilly relationship w/her dad played by Colm Feore. Her roommate however, played by It Follows Maika Monroe, feels the friendship may be a little too one sided planting some doubts into her head which are confirmed when during a dinner date at Huppert's home, Moretz finds a cabinet filled w/handbags, each w/different names of past 'companions'. Angered, Moretz breaks off their platonic romance but as night follows day, the friend from hell starts calling or texting & finally has to make an appearance at her job at a high end eatery where she makes a scene to end all scenes where she's eventually carted away in a straitjacket. No one is safe apparently as Monroe is stalked by Huppert (in the film's best sequence where pics of her hunt are sent to Moretz who is in contact w/Monroe via cell) but then that final third act gets going & having seen one or two of these things, you know what the outcome will be but somehow Jordan along w/his co-writer Ray Wright bungle things to the point where Moretz becomes the nominal damsel in distress & needs saving even though w/some judicious editing a more satisfying ending could've been reached. Also starring Jordan go to guy Stephen Rea (wasted here as a private investigator).
Wrath of Man (2021)
RITCHIE'S BEST...?
Guy Ritchie's latest from 2021 finds him reuniting w/his occasional go to guy Jason Statham in this potent tale of revenge & the lengths one man will go to achieve it. Told in a non-linear fashion under 4 chapter headings, we see Statham's son being killed when an armored car robbery goes bad (w/shades of the opening theft from Heat) but being a crime boss he has his men beat the bushes to find the culprits only to yield nothing so he decides to infiltrate the armored car concern to ferret out who was responsible. As the drama plays out, Statham's determination knows no bounds as we finally get a glimpse of the perpetrators (an elite military squad which consists of Jeffrey Donovan, Scott Eastwood & Laz Alonso) planning their last heist (at the armored car depot) w/Statham lying in wait to pounce. Probably Richie's most mature film to date (based on a 2004 French movie named Le Convoyeur) which initially had me worried when his predilection for his laddism (immature character nicknames) was at the fore but once the hook of the plot locks on, I was entranced. Also starring Holt McCallany, Eddie Marsan & Josh Hartnett as Statham's fellow co-workers, Post Malone as a thief in over his head & Andy Garcia in a small role as a fed in thrall to Statham.
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
STILL HUNGRY...!
Elaine May (Ishtar/The Heartbreak Kid) 1976 one-night odyssey involving a couple of lifelong buddies cum hoods, Oscar nominee Peter Falk & John Cassavetes, race through the night avoiding a hit man, played by Oscar nominee Ned Beatty. Playing out as a series of arguments through various venues (a movie theater, a bar, a cafe) as Falk tries to get Cassavetes to safety after he's absconded w/some ill-gotten gains. Once the reveal is made that Falk is on the kill & Cassavetes knows but still goes through the motions of putting some semblance of trust into his relationship w/Falk & May, maybe inspired by Cassavetes' own body of work but has said in interviews everything was scripted from people she knew in her neighborhood growing up, has crafted a yarn whose surprise is telegraphed so early that the follow through feels like its going through the motions leaving the finished product of 2 actors at the top of their game trying to make a meal of some meager vittles.
Don't Let Go (2019)
A CONCEIT THAT GETS AWAY FROM ITSELF...!
An ill-plotted Blum production from 2019. David Oyelowo is a cop who has a tight relationship w/his niece played by Storm Reid. Tragically one day Oyelowo is called to his niece's home to find she & her parents were murdered. At first the murders are written off as enemies from his brother's past (he had a rocky history w/gangsters) but before the investigation can get underway, Oyelowo receives a phone call from his niece, from 2 weeks before when she was still alive. Oyelowo decides to back-fill Reid's fate to avoid the current tragedy but soon enough the true killers are onto him. Will he save himself as well as Reid before she's killed? Basically this is a retread of a better film called Frequency from 2000 which starred Jim Caviezel & Dennis Quaid (in that film the time expanse was years & they communicated via a ham radio) which used a hokey time displacement device to better effect but here the film can't decide to either embrace the whimsy or wallow in unnecessary violence (Oyelowo's brother, played by Brian Tyree Henry, is shotgunned to the head) when the easier thing would've been a great female empowerment yarn, from Reid's perspective, making her the heroine in the piece but as the final grisly scenes play out, you're wishing you'd be collateral damage to put you out of your own misery. Co-starring Mykelti Williamson as Oyelow's partner & Alfred Molina as their boss.
Civil War (2024)
POLEMIC OR PRESCIENT...?
Alex Garland's (Ex Machina/Annihilation) latest is a hot button (considering a certain ex-president's on going court cases) narrative as the United States has fallen into a fractious war after the president, Nick Offerman, now in his third term has engaged his forces to fight against separatist forces (from Texas & California) who're mounting a campaign to take back the nation. Into this fracas are a quartet of journalists; Oscar nominee Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley & Wagner Moura go on a road trip towards DC to hopefully link up w/the siege on the White House seeing the state of the nation from one puzzling & disturbing set piece after another (culminating in the much talked about stop by some soldiers led by Oscar nominee & Dunst's hubby in real life Jesse Plemons) which really will be the touchstone scene on most people's lips for some time to come. Keeping some of the details on how we got here a bit specious works wonders as we concentrate on the actions unfolding & how it could mirror, if the heated sides which exist today actually come through on their threats, become more than just a cautionary tale & enter a realm of frightening docudrama.
Solomon and Sheba (1959)
NOT VERY WISE TO HAVE BEEN MADE...!
A 1959 biblical epic from 1959 starring Yul Brynner & Gina Lollabrigida. Taking place in the final days of King David's rule, who's on his death bed, the taking over the throne comes down to Brynner & his brother, played by George Sanders, who has opted to not be by his father's side since he's in the midst of a battle. Dismayed at Sanders effrontery, Brynner becomes king & has a good reign as one of the wisest kings in history of Judea but then Lollabrigida comes down the pike, working w/the Egyptian pharaoh, hoping to corrupt Brynner by bringing in different faiths when Israel was angling towards monotheism which spells doom for Brynner when he does in fact fall for her while his many enemies gather their forces to overthrow him. Brynner, who grew out his hair & took over after original lead Tyrone Power passed away from a heart attack, is a bit lost here playing his character as meek & understated when his roles up to this point, namely his Oscar win for the King and I & Ramses in The Ten Commandments, were justifiably over the top & enjoyable. Here, where perhaps Charlton Heston would've been better suited, Brynner seems stunted & castrated w/a lot of set pieces aping what Cecil B. Demille (the final battle has a slew of Egyptian soldiers blinded by their enemies into running off a cliff en masse) did so much better. I would only recommend this if there isn't any bible related epics on air but that's not saying much.
Thanksgiving (2023)
I'LL STICK TO THE SIDES...!
Eli Roth's (Hostel/Green Inferno) latest from last year which is actually a full-length version of his mock trailer he made for the 2007 Grindhouse omnibus. Taking on the haloed tradition of slasher films inspired by a theme (here a holiday), we open on a disastrous Black Friday sale opening where people are trampled & hurt (w/some unfortunates killed). Flash forward a year later & a masked killer, wearing the visage of a pilgrim forefather, starts taking revenge on the band of youths who cut the line the night of the sale along w/others the killer feels are responsible for the carnage w/each killing sticking to the edicts of a Thanksgiving spread. Pretty gruesome but tethered to an air of remove since most of the victims you wouldn't waste your time crossing the street to yell at them (something of an Achilles' heel w/Roth's writing) takes a game cast which includes Gina Gershon, Patrick Dempsey, Rick Hoffman, Karen Cliche as the adults in the room while the young'ns which include Addison Rae & Mino Manheim to name a few getting lost in the contempt the killer has for them as well as, not surprisingly, the co-writer/director.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
AN EXAMINATION OF QUIET EVIL...!
Last year's final (for me) nominee for Best Picture is a quiet, disturbing stunner about a Nazi commandant, Christian Friedel, who runs a concentration camp & lives on its periphery in a home w/his wife, Sandra Huller (nominated for Anatomy of a Fall), children & servants like nothing is out of the ordinary. More a treatise of the banality of quiet evil, the film (feeling like something Stanley Kubrick made) is just there w/long shots detailing the comings & goings of the home's inhabitants as the horrors next door (we hear some gunfire, an occasional scream or two) continue unabated. Co-writer/director Jonathan Glazer rightfully won the Best Foreign Language Oscar for his effort (also winning for Best Sound) & in a career which has spewed films like Birth, Under the Skin & Sexy Beast, this release continues a winning streak.
Sorry We Missed You (2019)
A BRILLIANT TAKE ON THE WORKING POOR...!
Another slice of bitter life from director Ken Loach (Kes/Riff Raff) w/writer Paul Laverty from 2019. A struggling family in England (Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Katie Proctor, Rhys Stone) seem to be turning the corner when the dad gets a job as a gig driver making deliveries (shades of Amazon) but needing a truck, Hitchen forces Honeywood, a home care worker, to sell her car forcing her to get to her jobs using public transit even though her schedule is tight as it is. Meanwhile Proctor is doing really well in school but Stone has fallen in w/a band of taggers & one point is suspended from school for a fight & later caught trying to shoplift some spray cans. Hitchen works hard at his job & even given a more stringent route which makes his hard as nails supervisor, Julian Ions, content, but after Stone's arrest & a late story mugging by some toughs send him to the hospital, Ions & Hitchen butt heads. Loach/Laverty have always had the foresight to get to the heart of the social matter w/this film being no exception as our hearts catch in our throats whenever the simple ebb & flow of municipal government or the functions of the new job economy which boasts the working class can finally make it is anything but a car bumper slogan. Kudos also to Loach continued use of non-professional actors to fill out small but key roles further giving this film an authentic documentary feel to the proceedings.
La vérité (2019)
A GOOD SHOWCASE FOR FRANCE'S BEST...!
A 2019 showcase for French icon Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve is an actress (I know an extreme stretch of the imagination!) who has a telltale book coming out. During an interview w/a journalist, we see Deneuve's daughter, her husband & their child are arriving for a visit. The couple played by Juliette Binoche & Ethan Hawke settle into the background as the not so heightened preparations are under way for the ensuing book tour but taking a sampling of Deneuve's magnum opus, Binoche realizes some of the truths espoused in the tome are of the made up variety. Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters) he elicits more quiet moments of revelation than knock down, drag out outbursts which would leave the glassware trembling in fear but by focusing on 2 of the most important French actresses of a few generations (Deneuve has been at it for more than 50 years), we get the gist of the affair rather than the melodramatic sweep. Hawke stays bemusedly in the background (probably took the role just to work w/these titans was incentive enough) as he watches from the wings.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)
BLANCHETT, YOU'RE SUCH A PILL...!
The latest from Richard Linklater (Slacker/Dazed & Confused) is based on a well regarded novel detailing the inharmonious goings on in a family in the Pacific Northwest. Bernadette is the ultimate eccentric living in an expansive crumbling home going about her life the way she sees fit apart from her tech husband's fears & wishes. When their precocious daughter demands a promised trip to Antarctica, Bernadette, played w/prickly brilliance by Cate Blanchett, acquiesces but soon feels the need to fill up her time busying herself for the impending voyage even though she's going to bow out at the last minute (she's scheming to finally have some wisdom teeth pulled as an excuse to not go). Through a video profile on her daughter's laptop, we learn Blanchett was once the toast of the architectural world where her inspired creations were being mentioned in the same breath as some of the greats (Frank Lloyd Wright & Frank Gehry names are dropped) so we see this is not a woman of empty fancy but someone who has subsumed her creative spark to be the keeper of the home, no matter how many feathers are ruffled. When several calamities occur (their properties' surrounding greenery floods a neighbor's home during an especially heavy downpour & her virtual assistant turns out to be a nefarious Russian outfit out to filch her wealth), an intervention is convened to bring our heroine to her senses which only fuels an escape sending her out towards the families planned adventure (w/o husband & child) where the possibility arises for her to regain her creative mojo. Always an aces w/actors, Linklater allows his thespians to wallow in the skewed material w/o alienating the viewers who may find this material a little too concerned w/the foibles of the 1 percent rather than what most of us endure on a daily basis. Co-starring Billy Crudup as the husband, Kristin Wiig as an annoying neighbor, Laurence Fishburne as an old colleague & Judy Greer as the social worker who proposes said intervention.
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
GERSHWIN, ONE FOR THE AGES...!
A biopic on George Gershwin from 1945. Tracing his idyllic & humble beginnings from his parents owed businesses (the father kept trying his hand at different ventures), we see George find his calling when a used piano is delivered to their home (after we see an opening shot of George practicing on an automated player piano). From there we get the usual ups & downs (he gets a job hawking song books but wants to get his own material published, etc.) before he's discovered by a kindly agent, played by Charles Coburn, who puts him on the road to greatness where he gets strong support from his family, particularly brother Ira (also well remembered for his lyric writing) & the two women in his life, the first a singer he met at the song book house, played by Joan Leslie, & later another in Hollywood played by Alexis Smith. As essayed by Robert Alda (Alan's dad), Gershwin is the consummate nice guy w/talent who dedicated his life to his craft & his craft responded in kind. Not much is made of his own personal demons but if you love the man's music (Rhapsody in Blue is performed in its entirety) you'll appreciate the presentation. With real life luminaries playing themselves (Oscar Levant & Al Jolson) only adds to the grandiosity of this truly American genius.
Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975)
7 BEAUTIES...1 TRIUMPH...!
Lina Wertmuller's (Swept Away/The Seduction of Mimi) 1975 tour de force about the exploits of an Italian motormouth & womanizer, played by Giancarlo Giannini who gets a taste of life when ends up in a concentration camp. Told in flashback after he & a friend are captured, we see his upbringing, the one male child among a sea of women (his sisters & mother) as he's expected to be the protector of the family. When his oldest sister is enraptured by a pimp (he convinces her to appear in a burlesque show wearing lingerie), Giannini swears vengeance (he carries a pistol w/him) but when he meets the lout, he gets the better of Giannini which in his mind is tantamount to an invitation to a duel. He does manage to confront him but kills him accidentally. His confidante counsels him to dispose of the body (he breaks up the body into 3 suitcases) & thinking himself successful, his angry sister turns him & he's found insane (actually a ploy by a lawyer under the confidante's employ) & imprisoned where he increasingly loses hope (the one sane man in an insane asylum) & becomes the disgusting creature he'd hoped to protect his woman-folk from (a particularly nasty attempted rape of a strapped down woman is seen). Upon advise from his doctor who knows his condition will worsen just by the circumstances he's found himself in, he urges Giannini to enlist. During his sojourn in the concentration camp, his demeanor worsens & he makes a decision to seduce the female commandant (a portly tank of a woman) in hopes of saving himself but irony upon ironies he only manages to become a guard of sorts (usually inmates who have been elevated to discipline status) & his first bit of business is to execute 6 random prisoners as a means of controlling the herd. At times funny, sad, harrowing but never forgetting to depict the basest instincts of survival, Giannini manages to remain resolute even when his actions are the most deplorable. Rightfully winning the Best Foreign Film Oscar that year, Wertmuller (who also became the first woman to be nominated as a director, she also got a screenplay nomination) showed the world she rightfully had the 'stuff' to deliver the goods w/Giannini's performance also netting a nom for Best Actor. Look for Luis Bunuel standby Fernando Rey (he was also Frog One in The French Connection) as a fellow camp prisoner.
You Only Live Once (1937)
LANG'S SO SO EFFORT...!
One of Fritz Lang's (M/Metropolis) first American efforts from 1937 has Henry Fonda & Sylvia Sydney as a couple getting into dire straits. Fonda has just gotten out of stir & marries his best girl Sydney. Hoping to lead the straight & narrow he gets a job as a truck driver but due to his tendency to arrive late, gets fired after the couple have moved into a new residence. Distraught on how his forward motion has been throttled, Fonda falls back on his wayward ways by rejoining up w/his old gang to pull some jobs but unfortunately one job results in six people being killed & he's blamed for the deaths. Fonda returns to prison w/a death sentence over his head but then he manages to escape w/a smuggled gun reuniting w/Sydney as they become fugitives w/the authorities hot on their tails. What would've worked as a more streamlined narrative gets lost in occasional bouts of histrionics as the story heads to its lockstep conclusion draining the air out of the piece in light of better films, High Sierra w/Humphrey Bogart made four years later is one example, shows a similar yarn told in a better circumstances.
The Reflecting Skin (1990)
STRIKING BUT FLEETING...!
A 1990 weird & unfocused horror cum art piece set in 1950's Idaho. Taking place at a rundown house which abuts a filling station, the story unfolds from the point of view of a young son of a clan where his mother harangues his father (at some time in the past we hear he molested a child) & his brother, played by Viggo Mortensen, is off fighting in the war. A strange woman, played by Lindsay Duncan (of HBO's Rome fame), lives down the road & she intersects paths w/the boy (& his friends) & is somewhat of a pariah (she keeps to herself but occasionally invites the boy over to her home). When Mortensen does enter the picture at the nearly one hour mark, we find him to be a bit distant w/the family (maybe PTSD?) but manages to find solace in Duncan's arms. Meanwhile we have a black car filled w/young men roaming the roads abducting & killing people (one of the boy's friends is a victim), the boy's father decides to douse himself in gasoline & set himself on fire & our hero finds a baby (whether real or made from wax is up in the air) hidden in Duncan's barn which he takes a fancy to bringing it back home caring for it almost like a pet. W/an unnecessarily loud soundtrack but striking, vivid visuals, this film has a David Lynch slant to it (I would also lump in there Bernard Rose's Paperhouse made a couple of years earlier) which would be telling if this mess had anything resembling a structure to it but as it is, we have some disturbing imagery (exploding frogs, anyone?) but not much else. Get yourself an old copy of Fangoria magazine, at least the articles will keep your interest.
A Summer Place (1959)
A BIT PASSE BUT STILL OF INTEREST...!
The epitome of 50's schmaltz ended said decade in 1959 w/the tale of requited love & their children who may be falling into the same trap. Troy Donahue & Sandra Dee (thank you Grease for keeping these two actors relevant) play the kids who have to deal w/the problems their parents have created. Infidelity & divorce is as commonplace as the corner bodega but in 1959 these subjects were taboo & the changing mores of the times were reflected in this flawed release but as a curio of the time it reflects, it still entertains w/the leads this side of visual perfection when one thinks about that particular time & place.
Carbine Williams (1952)
STEWARTS EVERYMAN BUILDS A GUN...!
A sort of biopic of the famed gun maker starring James Stewart from 1952. Williams was a war veteran who upon returning home couldn't wait to get married but when he comes collecting for his piece of land from his father, who demands he put in time before getting his, decides to give up his claim & make his way while working as a manual laborer but when he hears he can make more money servicing moonshine stills (he's something of a mechanical savant) he jumps at the chance becoming so successful he opens more stills along the way. This is the time of prohibition however so when the feds come w/rifles drawn, a gun fight erupts w/one of the agents getting killed. Williams is brought to trial for the death & ever the kind of man he is who accepts his fate, he takes the sentence willingly, spending the bulk of his time in forced labor (he gained an infraction for having a knife). During his down time he begins working on a rifle (w/parts scored from the prison's workshop) which will become his legacy, w/at first skeptical support from the warden which becomes full throated seeing the revolutionary design & possible applications, which gains him an early release. The film works as a profile of a man whose determination can stand against all comers but as a study of someone who is a tinkerer (the rifle's construction is more of an internal coping mechanism after he spends time in solitary) the film is lacking but Stewart, the consummate every man, can do no wrong so the film is worth a peek just for that. Also starring Wendell Corey as the tough but fair warden, James Arness as one of Williams' brothers & Paul Stewart (he played Kane's butler in Citizen Kane) as a thug always looking to break out of prison.