Recent Viewings, Part 2

[M.10rda]

ARENA WARS (2023) - Man, Michael Madsen must be hard up for work these days!

  He's been appearing in absolutely anything for $ for 20+ years. I used to watch 'em ALL but I lost the will to keep up with his mortgage payment schedule since the pandemic.......

[lester1/2jr]

The Tunnel (2011) - This Australian found footage jobber gets everything right as far as acting, directing, yadda yadda but it just doesn't have the stuff. The set up is fine, the get to know the doomed people aspect is fine, there's just not enough that happens in the titular tunnel. The claustrophobic "get me out of here" thing was done way better in "As Above So below" and the news/ documentary concept was done in "Horror in the High Desert" which had more of a payoff.

That said, one figure of speech you often see is "if you are a big fan completist of..." such and such genre, etc

If you fancy yourself a found footage superfan, you should see this because it is historically relevant and decent. Otherwise, there are more successful endeavors.

3.76/ 5


Also caught

Dementia (1955) - I found this easier to get through than The Tunnel though the abstract, dreamlike sort of style is not usually my thing. The Twilight Zone, Carnival of Souls, and Glen or Glenda? came to mind as the camera follows a young, not particularly beautiful but likeable seeming woman through loose sort of scenarios where men and women attack each other amidst jazz age gangsters and nightclub/ street corner atmospheres.

One memorable scene features a girl selling flowers, then someone drops a severed hand into her basket, so it's kind of bordering on an art film in some ways. I had seen it on TCM a billion years ago and remember liking it and will probably watch it again in another billion years. IMDB calls it "neo noir" but 1955 is still pretty noir era.

4.35 /5

[M.10rda]

YOUNG LUCREZIA (1974):
A random pick from my digital archives of a film I didn't remember downloading and could only surmise was about Lucrezia Borgia, which it is. I also knew nothing about the Borgias other than that their name was somehow synonymous with corruption and debauchery. Oh boy, is it ever! What initially looked like a low-budget sex flick actually turned out to be a surprisingly well-written historical drama w/ tons of plot and some earnest looking Italian actors mouthing the words of mostly very credible English loopers, and also the occasional (and occasionally somewhat erotic!) softcore sex scene. The reasonably classy production is fortunate as the plot itself is pure exploitation sleaze!

So "young" Lucrezia Borgia at least looks like an adult in this flick, which is also fortunate since, as a woman in the 15th century, she serves no greater purpose than to be married off in a series of political arrangements which apparently began when she was 12 (!) years old and continued through her natural life. I appreciate that the film doesn't go out of its way to perseverate on her specific age at the start, which would elevate YOUNG LUCREZIA into a different stratosphere of creepiness. Frankly it's unsettling enough even when her age is obscured, as most of the plot mechanics pivot on the conflict between her two older brothers and her father over sexual ownership of Lucrezia. (!!!) Yes, a quick Google confirms that all of this nastiness is at least somewhat grounded in the historical record or at least strong rumors and suppositions. Also did I mention that Lucrezia's father is the Pope? As a lapsed Catholic this was the easiest plot element for me to swallow. 

I suspect that George R.R. Martin drew consciously upon the Borgia legend in creating the Lannister and Targaryan clans and for that matter the sinisterly perambulating plot twists also made me think that Shakespeare (who was born 45 years after Lucrezia's death) took some inspiration from her story. Amusingly this intelligent but underfunded movie calls in the debt from Shakespearean drama by marching right up to what sound like some major historical battles and then cutting away from them before the director is expected to actually stage said historical conflicts with three horses and a dozen extras. In this way YOUNG LUCREZIA is definitely a bit GoT Season 1, before it could afford that fourth horse or thirteenth extra. 

But to its credit, this kept me watching not for any nudity or other salacious aspects, but to see how Lucrezia would eventually foil or otherwise escape the clutches of Cesare, her murderously pervy older brother. Like any well-made play, YOUNG LUCREZIA marches the viewer all the way up to their climactic confrontation, though the resolution is, err, not the one I'd expected nor hoped for! But that's history for ya', I guess.

3/5 Weirdly tone-y and respectable for such unrepentant horniness!

It even has an abrupt final wideshot that is almost as puzzling as the one that closes Haneke's CACHE. Maybe I need to watch more Italian flicks.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" (2024)
Netflix's long awaited "legacy sequel" returns Eddie Murphy's wise cracking Axel Foley to the 90210 to re-connect with his estranged daughter and rescue his buddy Rosewood, who's been taken prisoner by a drug cartel. Just as much shoot'em up, car crashin' fun as the old "BHC" movies. Welcome back,  Eddie!

[indianasmith]

"Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" (2024)
Netflix's long awaited "legacy sequel" returns Eddie Murphy's wise cracking Axel Foley to the 90210 to re-connect with his estranged daughter and rescue his buddy Rosewood, who's been taken prisoner by a drug cartel. Just as much shoot'em up, car crashin' fun as the old "BHC" movies. Welcome back,  Eddie!

I liked that one!

[indianasmith]

PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) - I hadn't seen this masterpiece in well over a decade, so my daughter and I re-watched it last night.  Visually beautiful, with a poignant and (at times) brutal story, I was drawn in and enchanted just as I was on my first viewing in 2007.  Guillermo del Toro at the peak of his craft, 100% recommended!   5/5

[Rev. Powell]

TOMMY (1975): Arguably the first feature-length music video, Ken Russell's adaptation of The Who's TOMMY is a fable about a deaf, dumb and blind kid who becomes a messianic pinball prodigy. It's a psychedelic mess, as you might guess, but it's tremendous fun when the numerous guest stars give 1000% to the concept: Elton John performing "Pinball Wizard" on stilts, Tina Turner belting it out as the Acid Queen, Ann-Margaret rolling around in baked beans vomited up by her TV. 3.5/5.

Personal note: I am way late on this one. I first caught a bit of the end on TV (A&E?) way back in the 90s and thought to myself, "I'm going to have to see this from the beginning." Promises made, promises kept.

[RCMerchant]

^ So nice you reviewed it twice?

[Rev. Powell]

^ So nice you reviewed it twice?

Oops! Deleted the first one.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Lightning Bolt" (aka "Operazione Goldman," 1966)
An American secret agent (Anthony Eisley) poses as a millionaire playboy so he can hang around the resort hotels near Cape Kennedy, while trying to find the saboteur that's been causing U.S. rockets to self destruct right after launch.
Cheap but enjoyable Italian 007 knock off with lots of pretty girls, some legit action scenes, and a tongue in cheek sense of humor. One of the better Bond wanna-be's out there.

[FatFreddysCat]

"From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996)
Two criminal brothers (George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino) on the run from the law take an RV'ing family hostage and head South of the Border. Stopping at a biker bar in the Mexican desert, they and the rest of the patrons find out the "bar" is actually a cover for a nest of vampires, and now they'll have to fight to stay off the menu.
Robert Rodriguez' cult classic is a pretty straight up crime thriller for the first 40 minutes or so, before it turns on a dime into a cartoonish horror comedy. Clooney is hilarious as the deadpan "Seth" and the stacked cast also includes Salma Hayek (whose "snake dance" is one of the hottest things ever committed to film), Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Danny Trejo. A bloody good time!

"48 HRS." (1982)
A burned out San Francisco cop (Nick Nolte) reluctantly partners up with a streetwise crook (Eddie Murphy, in his film debut), who's out on jail on a weekend pass to help Nolte catch an escaped killer. Walter Hill's influential action comedy pretty much set the template for every "mismatched buddy cop" movie that followed. Murphy makes the most of his first movie role (his scene in a redneck bar is priceless) and there's plenty of fights, chases and shoot outs. 48 HRS. still holds up.

[lester1/2jr]

Something Wild (1986) - Occasionally, I watch a bunch of movies featuring the same actress. Past participants have been as diverse as Demi Moore and Eve Plumb from The Brady Bunch. Lately, I've been on a Melanie Griffith kick. I'd put this one below Body Double and above Cherry 2000. Now, I want to find Smile (1975) which I have seen but it's been a long time.

Melanie Griffith plays a bohemian New Yorker who lives on the edge, kind of like Brad Pitt's girlfriend in Fight Club. She soft kidnaps Wall Street guy Jeff Daniels and it's 80's opposites attract. This weird- normal sexual tension thing was done in After Hours (1985) and probably many more movies I can't think of from this era. The soundtrack, curated by John Cale and Laurie Anderson, is full of world beat and reggae and doesn't really work but it's not too noticeable. 

The first half where Griffith and Daniels go from adventure to romance and so forth was a little stronger than the second, which is mainly a prolonged duel between Daniels and Ray Liotta as Griffiths hometown old flame guy. It's a long 1 hour 53 mins and kind of encompasses too many genres.

The chemistry is good between the two leads though (the movie poster wisely focuses on this aspect) and if you are an 80's fan you owe it to yourself to see this, if you haven't already. Demme is an A list director and parts of this are A list quality for sure. What happened to  the girl Liotta picked up at the gift shop?

4/5

[M.10rda]

I agree w/ your score and that "parts are A-quality". It's my favorite Demme film that doesn't have an oversized white suit or a man wearing another man's face as his own.

[M.10rda]

HALF-HUMAN (1955/1958):
Could there have been a giant cryptohominid movie from the 50s I hadn't seen? Only kinda' - as I watched this one waves of recognition washed over me and I realized I'd previously seen a blurry dup of the original Japanese version from '55 with no English subs or dubbing(!). On the somewhat memorable side, it was directed by Ishiro Honda, creator of GOJIRA!!! So the original was actually sort of a real movie with a budget and people trying to make a good film. Of course, that was the original Japanese version and this is the 1958 American release. 

Ala the American cut of o.g. GODZILLA, the original footage is truncated and supplemented with white American guys talking about the events of the Japanese version. As Raymond Burr was busy being a TV lawyer or something, John Carradine plays a professor-ish type who holds court in his office and relates the terrifying adventures of a Japanese professor leading an expedition into the Himalayas and running afoul of a certain Snowman. The American print is clear as day, thus I didn't much mind Carradine narrating a lot of (dialogue-free) footage of Japanese characters nodding their heads and waving their arms silently.

On the downside, they cut out some of the original Japanese mayhem - for example, one U.S. scene has the Snowman tossing one Japanese guy off the side of a mountain, where in the original he tossed two guys off the side of the mountain. (I guess the Hays Code only permitted one screaming Asian death off a cliffside per feature.) On the upside, it's great to appreciate the cool Yeti/Bigfoot mask and costume in a clean, clear print. When shot in wide shot or in shadowy close-up, it looks awesome, and its first appearance gave me real LEGEND OF BOGGY-style frisson. In overlit medium shots, well, it looks like muppet Sam the Eagle's head on a bunch of hastily assembled shag-rugs, like most 20th century movie 'squatches. Still, at least Honda gave us a lot of Yeti to look at, unlike 1954's SNOW CREATURE, where you never get to see him clearly and they mostly use one fuzzy underlit medium shot over and over and over again.

Much of Carradine's voluminous narration and onscreen soliloquizing could yield Criswell/Criminologist-style chuckles. Some of that lengthy text makes sense and resonates, some of it is mildly absurd, some of it's even actively racist, and most of it sounds like it was typed by the writer(s) in one manic, possibly booze-fueled early morning before the crew showed up to the set. To Carradine's credit, he ain't readin' off cue-cards and is completely confident in his memorization (no matter how recently that memorization might've been) and honestly appears to be attacking his lines with a great deal of thought and sincerity. It's... a good performance! Furthermore, midway through the film Carradine and his two bobbleheaded attaches visit a medical examiner, and that guy is also entirely too good for cheap nonsense monster movies. The actor's name is Morris Ankrum, and he appeared in many dozens of anonymous cheap movies and also in several famous movies, and with a true lifelong professional's commitment he authentically delivers a whole lot of information about cryptid biology and evolutionary anthropology that he couldn't possibly know from a cursory glance at one dead monkey and almost all of which sounds like complete horse$#!t. Honestly that sort of artistry and craft is what keeps me coming back to these ludicrous movies!

3/5 

[Dr. Whom]

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

In the 1970s, a nerdy and diffident British sound engineer is flown to Italy to supervise the dubbing and foley of a giallo.

This is a tribute to the giallo movies of the 70s, and has the same strengths and weaknesses. Nothing much happens, everything is in the creepy atmosphere, which is done superbly (also by sound design). I never thought that shots of people operating sound equipment could be so ominous. However, it is easier to create tension rather than resolve it satisfactorily and the director takes the easy way out of simply turning up the weirdness. Still, definitely worth watching.