Breaking News

Breaking News (Dai Si Gin) (2004)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Johnnie To

Starring: Richie Jen, Kelly Chen, Nick Cheung, Yong You, Shiu-Hung Hui

From: Several different Hong Kong companies 

Breaking news: I was happy to see this Johnnie To movie. I’ve only scratched the surface of his filmography, despite seeing 2013’s Drug War soon after release and finding it to be great. This will leave the Criterion Channel after today, forcing a watch now. 

I knew we were in good hands in the opening minutes. A police stakeout goes horribly awry. There’s a LONG tracking shot lasting a few minutes-panning along and moving up/down via a crane, capturing both the cops and criminals. The shootout continues after that-law enforcement looked particularly bad as media happened to be nearby, filming and photographing the bungled operation, including a cop holding his hands up in fear to a criminal pointing a gun at him.

How do they handle this embarrassment? Better training, a reprimand for the mistakes made, improved planning? Of course not! Instead, they manipulate the power of the press via engaging in a PR campaign. Let’s be glad such things couldn’t happen now anywhere in the world… both sides are followed.

I dare not reveal much more of the plot-the satire, the quality action scenes well-filmed, the humanizing moments. The score from Ben Cheung Siu-Hung and Chung Chi-Wing was uniquely effective… percussion, flamenco guitar, what sounded like bagpipes, and other interesting sounds. Yeah, a decent amount of the film is in a blue hue that is indicative of the early 2000’s-even then, that amused me. I missed out on not giving Breaking News a shot much sooner.

 

The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Runtime: 112 minutes

Directed by: Robert Altman

Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson

From: United Artists

What better way to announce my safe return home to Central Florida after spending a few days in Fort Myers than viewing one of Robert Altman’s most famous movies before it leaves the Criterion Channel after Sunday? Considering the noir and neo-noir I’ve viewed in my life, it seems like a misstep on my part that I’ve never tackled this until earlier in the day. Of course, I’ve viewed some other Philip Marlowe pictures before, but never one set in the 70’s.

Right away, I laughed that the movie opens w/ Marlowe’s forced journey to a 24-hour store to purchase cat food for his constantly-meowing feline. It reminded me of a previous journey to Kansas (this one with my father and late mother) when she helped out sis and fed one of the two cats she had at the time. It wasn’t 3 AM but feeding time was late; the kitty constantly meowed as mom prepared the food, much to my mom’s consternation! No, mom did not smoke constantly like Marlowe did here, nor did she act laconic like Elliott Gould’s portrayal of a man who deliberately felt out of lockstep with his surroundings… a 40’s or 50’s detective who lives right by a bunch of attractive young women who do yoga and love being topless.

Our private eye associates w/ a cad named Terry Lennox; much to his misfortune, Lennox is missing & accused of murdering his wife. The film had some interesting casting; Lennox was played by Jim Bouton… yes, the former baseball player who caused controversy by writing a 1969 book called Ball Four, where people at the time were shocked that pro sports players were human and thus did drugs, drank, and were womanizers. What innocent times back then. Anyhow…

It’s not my favorite movie involving the character nor my personal favorite from Altman-that said, The Long Goodbye was still a very good time. In fact, you might say that it was OK with me… the film was a satirical look at the life of a private eye involved in a convoluted case with various shady characters, some of them real reprobates. Marlowe was a jerk, albeit a funny jerk. It was a nice cast with several other recognizable faces… yes I did know that Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a scene as a hood, but not that an actor famous at the time had an uncredited part. I wasn’t familiar with Nina van Pallandt but that Danish actress did a swell job.

The biggest assets the film had came from a trio of legends: Gould’s performance as the lead, the jazzy score from John Williams, and the cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond. The film was downbeat, although given the decade and its neo-noir style, this should not have been a surprise. I’m personally happy that in 2025, several famous 70’s pictures were finally partaken in by me.

Time for Me to Catch Up

I'll be making three posts in total tonight. The first is for the 1920 Buster Keaton short Convict 13, posted on Letterboxd this past Friday night: 

While I have been having fun on my Thanksgiving break, I am still glad to have some time to talk about a silent short. I'll be returning home and in about 24 hours, I hope to have a review of something else, short or feature-length. 

I felt like Buster Keaton, as it's been awhile. Keaton starts off unsuccessfully playing golf for the purposes of wooing Sybil Seely-a lady I've mentioned before as the 1920's version of Milana Vayntrub. The titular Convict 13 is a prisoner who escapes and runs into a knocked-out Buster. Unsurprisingly, the prisoner exchanges clothes with Keaton, and of course Keaton literally runs into prison. While behind bars, his main foe is the prison's main foe... a large human portrayed by Joe Roberts.

This was not top-tier Buster; that's not a slight as Keaton still had his creative moments and funny pratfalls. Black comedy is also present-they attempt to hang our hero but the rope is like a bungee chord. There's also an old gag that is used at the conclusion of the short which evidently was used by Buster during his vaudeville days, at least according to a mutual's review. The final 10 or so seconds could have been a groaner even back in 1920-it sure is in 2025... even then, there's more carnage and people being knocked out cold than you'd expect, so I can't carp about Convict 13 too hard.

Marco

Marco (2024)

Runtime: 145 minutes

Directed by: Haneef Adeni

Starring: Unni Mukundan, Siddique, Jagadish, Abhimanyu Shammy Thilakan, Kabir Duhan Singh

From: A few different Indian companies

This went a step too far.

As always, during the week of (American) Thanksgiving, I am like many in the United States in that my movie-watching won’t be as frequent due to the aspect of traveling to other cities to hang out w/ loved ones. Not only do I expect to post at odd times, it won’t be every day and I won’t be able to like as many reviews as usual.

As for Marco… it’s an Indian movie I was finally able to track down. Months ago, someone on a messageboard informed everyone that Marco was even more violent than another Indian release from last year, Kill. Kill I have seen—and that was bloody gruesome. My interest was piqued, yet it was just now the reason why I couldn’t find it streaming anywhere in America w/ English subtitles: it’s an exclusive title for SonyLIV. Thankfully, YouTube has that as a service you can subscribe to… I am doing a free one-week trial, you see.

Concerning the film: the titular Marco is part of a crime family, even though he was adopted in rather than it being by blood. Some A-holes kill the blind Victor (via a dip in acid!), who is the sibling he was the closest to. It might as well be a bromance. Despite this being my first motion picture in the Malayalam language, it has the same characteristics that I’ve viewed in the pictures in the tongues of Tamil, Telugu, or Hindi.

Marco doesn’t appear right away-the plot is established then he receives quite the introduction… children argue over his character then we see him escape kidnapping via the killing of dogs (regrettable, even if Marco explains that he had to and he’s a dog lover) and like the sort of movies from India I end up seeking out, it’s macho OOT moments-typically in slow-motion-as he wrecks multiple dudes… most of the time while smoking a cigarette! He smokes more often than a Chow Yun-Fat character! It’s funny: like the YouTube copy I saw of the 2019 Tamil film Kaithi, there are messages that tobacco and alcohol are bad each time they are seen on screen-believe me, that is seen constantly in Marco the movie.

The first hour has some action but it’s only after this point that most of the grisly moments occur. A memorable scene involves… a chainsaw. Dog dying isn’t the only questionable moment; there seemed to be an implication that a key character was being punished right after they admitted their bisexuality. Be that as it may, I was still entertained by this trash (at least up to a certain point) which did attempt to create a story before the worst of the carnage occurred.

The obvious digital moments weren’t always beloved by me—even then, limbs are broken like prime Seagal, limbs are chopped off, there is more than one trap that Jigsaw probably had in his mind… I was digging that, then they not only blatantly stole a line from Heath Ledger’s Joker, they went the direction of those extreme French horror movies from the early 2000’s-or a few Korean movies of the same era-none of which I liked because in part they were just too gross, too much.

To give a hint as the direction this goes, another message popped up: “Violence against women and children is punishable by law.” Kill was a lot of fun, definitely graphic but they didn’t go overboard in attempting to shock or nauseate the audience. One scene here just turned me off. It’s a shame, as the film at least attempted some stylish moments ripped off from other sources… there’s a short POV fight segment, a simulated long one-take fight, a scene in black and white until the red of blood appears.

Of course, “too much” possibly or probably won’t be the case for you; YMMV. Additionally, checking out Indian movies that aren’t the same archetype (such as, checking out pictures from the past) may be beneficial for me. As derivative as Marco could be, I was happy to finally cross this off the list… not to mention, it wasn’t a movie I thought was bad.

Gorgo

Gorgo (1961)

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Eugene Lourie

Starring: Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Christopher Rhodes, Joseph O’Conor

From: King Brothers Productions

What memorable wanton destruction in the final act; that was my main feeling concerning Gorgo after viewing the restored version on Arrow’s streaming site. The only foreknowledge I had beforehand was that this was Britain’s attempt at a kaiju movie. I was invested in the story so the methodical pacing for the first two acts was not an issue—the effects (at least when they attempted to superimpose images to reflect destruction) haven’t aged well-at least the model work and the guy in a suit stomping over miniature sets still are old-school cool.

The plot isn’t too terribly original: a ship wrecks off the coast of Ireland due to volcanic activity that also released a prehistoric creature, bipedal in nature and looking like a lizard of sorts. It’s captured and because the pair that run the ship are greedy A-holes (one of them Heywood Floyd from 2001, i.e. William Sylvester), they swerve two Irish academics and instead sell the titular Gorgo to a London circus as a sideshow act. Regrettably for them, that creature is just a baby—his mother is on the warpath looking for her offspring.

I can nitpick over how despite the presence of several voices of reason (including a little orphan boy, who lives in an Irish village but stows away on the ship and suddenly is unofficially adopted by our two male leads) and opportunities to prevent the destruction of London, it happens due to sheer stupidity… I am more forgiving of those flaws when the final act delivered on the destruction of London. 

As sociopathic as it may sound, that’s not my intent when describing how some expected landmarks were wrecked, how many innocent deaths occurred, all the carnage, the skies turning orange due to all the fires in the area… those moments were well-realized, awkward superimposed images aside. The radio announcer that often provides OOT commentary to the audience (both fictional and us, the viewers) was tremendous.

The majority that view kaiju movies are predominately interested in seeing the calamity, the annihilation the creature delivers. In this case, Gorgo (the movie and the creature’s mother) was satisfying; the visuals were grand and while cliché in this genre, the message of hubris by humanity and how greed/avarice can have devastating consequences… that was delivered well and henceforth, I was charmed by this movie that wasn’t as campy as I erroneously presumed it would be. 

For clarification’s sake, I’ve never viewed the apparently similar Reptilicus-the draw of seeing Danes attempt to enter the kaiju market strikes me as curious. One day in the future I need to check out that ’62 film. I’ve also never peeped the UK’s other giant monster movies from this era: Konga and The Giant Behemoth. The former starring a young Michael Gough interests due to his presence alone.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)

Runtime: 99 long minutes

Directed by: William Eubank

Starring: Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Jaye Ayres-Brown, Tom Nowicki

From: Paramount Players/Blumhouse

This isn’t MY Paranormal Activity!

Truth be told, there are lists I’ve created on Letterboxd where I discuss franchises-and those lists will forever be incomplete because it’s been determined by me that viewing those installments would just be infuriate me by (among other things) totally waste my time. As I know I’m the only one who really cares about such things, that’s why it’s not a big deal.

In hindsight, there was no need to see this unrelated sequel which involves no characters from the preceding movies, paranormal or not. A young lady named Margot is followed by a truly unendurable dude named Chris (and a random sound dude whose distinguishing traits are “he’s awkwardly annoying” and “he’s really tall”) who film her finding the family that abandoned her at a hospital as a baby. I don’t categorize this as found footage; many moments break that illusion. Even if it was… this motion picture set at an Amish community-I suppose this community won’t complain too hard if you make a bad movie filled with dumb, irritating characters where their sect is involved w/ demons.

Even if this was called Next of Kin and did not have the Paranormal Activity name attached to it, this movie would be bad. I’m glad it’s not just Next of Kin, if only because there’s two much better films from the 80’s w/ that title… either the slow-burn Aussie thriller from 1982, or the movie from ’89 where Patrick Swayze, Bill Paxton, and Liam Neeson are a trio of hillbilly siblings (!) from Appalachia. There are some moments that aren’t bad and the snowy landscape of rural New York State provides some nice scenery.

Otherwise, this movie was just lame and besides not following the found footage format AND added in unnecessary jump scare noises (no, really), they couldn’t even be arsed to set up a camera to film events at night when everyone’s sleeping. Your feelings on the Paranormal Activity are almost irrelevant, except that you’d likely be even more offended. As is, while I know some out there enjoyed the film, personally I couldn’t recommend it to anyone.

 

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Revisited

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is a Christmas movie.

Boy, this movie was not as good as the (limited release) theatrical 3D showing from a decade ago. It was a random path I took for me to suddenly realize that the majority who hated the film were likely right & thus a viewing at home in 2D would change my opinion—this was true, and I am someone who enjoyed all of them except the 4th installment.

As explained before, the first Paranormal Activity is one I’ll always have a soft spot for. It was a movie championed on a long-defunct podcast a full two years before it came out. The early screening in Orlando will forever be an all-timer: evidently, I was one of the few at the sold-out showing who knew anything beforehand… the first act, people were laughing and scoffing at the film. Once the scares happened—the mood drastically changed, and the crowd was terrified.

Ever since then, I enjoyed seeing most of the sequels on the big screen, even if the crowd experience w/ those was never as incredible as the first movie. Yeah, the story for the franchise was clearly made up on the fly with each movie-no way could Oren Peli have predicated this would receive five sequels. At home, what a goofy movie this is. Yeah, they tried for meta commentary at times and the family we follow feature a goofy pair of brothers that drink Pabst Blue Ribbon, get stoned and have facial hair, including one sporting a pornstache!

Still, this is a motion picture where this family find a souped-up 80’s camcorder custom-built with six lenses and this allows them (alongside the viewer) to “see spirits,” meaning swirly shapes. That is goofy-not to mention how they found VHS tapes of another family at the house. Otherwise, it felt familiar as Tobi the spirit-yes, that’s the official canon spelling, not Toby- targets the little girl of the family-the types of scares also felt old hat by this point when the movie wasn’t utterly preposterous. There is a franchise resolution of sort, although even a decade ago I was like the mainstream in thinking it wasn’t entirely satisfying for a series that involved witches, cults, time travel, and general weirdness.

For all the flaws contained in Ghost Dimension, I still don’t hate the movie-blame my affinity and connection with the franchise. For better or for worse, it popularized the found footage genre, a trend (or plague, depending on your tastes) popular for years. In my original review for Ghost Dimension, the purported claims of this being the finale were met somewhat skeptically by me. Of course, there was a standalone sequel that gave off the stench of “it has hardly anything to do w/ the rest of the series” so that’s why I never gave Next of Kin a chance. Will curiosity ultimately win me over in the future?