La Haine

La Haine (1995)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili, Solo

From: A few different French companies

Hubert wore a Carhartt beanie DECADES before it became a trend.

It was about time I started fulfilling some requests. Awhile back, a Letterboxd mutual wanted me to watch then review this film. In March, I’ll tackle a pair of late 50’s Westerns requested by two different people, and also my first narrative Werner Herzog movie. For now, I finally discussed one of the most highly-rated pictures on Letterboxd. While I don’t think it’s “one of the best movies of all time” as the ratings may suggest, I was more than satisfied w/ the end result.

Vinz, Hubert, and Said are three young adult pals-the title translated to English is “hate,” which describes the temperament of the trio-who are all part of immigrant families and live in the same slum. Throughout the span of a single day, we see the trio deal with the aftermath of an urban riot (yep, law enforcement is not looked upon favorably, to state the portrayal mildly; think of that what you will) which greatly harmed a pal, and a stolen .44 Magnum that belonged to a cop that factors into the plot. Busting each other’s balls is a frequent occurrence as the viewer realizes their lives are a rudderless ship, wasting time as they go from place to place in their enclave.

The film is loud and intense, all three leads full of vulgarity. “Your mother sticks carrots up her ass!” is a phrase new to me. I don’t always love such behavior but for the sake of the plot, it was warranted. As the plot unfurls, we see life in this unique world—it is not as miserable as I’ve led on. After all, there’s a breakdancing scene… it was still a searing look in black and white at the violent life of some wayward characters. As for the conclusion—the final minutes were a masterpiece. Thus, I was happy to receive such a recommendation… I am never against getting them anyhow, but when I rate a movie so highly, it’s a treat.

It’s a shame that Hubert Kounde never had much of a career as his performance was as good as that of Vincent Cassel and Said Taghmaoui. An even bigger shame is that director Mathieu Kassovitz only made two films in Hollywood… and they were the much-derided Gothika then Babylon A.D.? “Typical Hollywood” is me making assumptions as to why this occurred. A key aspect for how great the movie was… is that the director took part of his own life and brought it to screen. However, he still deserved better projects.

Gina

Gina (1975)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Denys Arcand

Starring: Celine Lomez, Claude Blanchard, Frederique Collin, Serge Theriault, Gabriel Arcand

From: Several different Quebecois companies

Featuring Quebec Bob Seger.

This title is another released by a small label which is distributed by Vinegar Syndrome. On their website last year, I saw that Canadian International Pictures released a film known as Gina, which was beforehand unknown to me. I hadn’t even checked out anything from its director (Denys Arcand), not even The Barbarian Invasions. It wasn’t available for streaming anywhere and these days I’d like to test-drive the car before purchasing it, so off to <redacted> to illegally stream the restored version that’s on the Blu, albeit the English dub rather than the Quebec French version.

What a film this is: the titular Gina is a stripper sent by her bosses to the rural textile town of Louiseville (a real life location a little bit southwest of Trois-Rivieres) to entertain at a bar. Meanwhile, not only are there some documentarians that work for the Canadian government present to start filming a piece on the exploitation of the textile workers AND there’s a band of ruffians who ride around on their snowmobiles-it is winter; if it was summer, they’d clearly ride around on motorcycles-so to hear that it’s a hangout film mixed with docu-realism then it suddenly turns into actual exploitation that features a gross sexual assault (more in idea than what was shown), resulting in sweet, sweet revenge. It is odd.

At least some won’t care for the languid pacing this has in the first half especially, where we get to know the characters and among other moments, a few minutes are spent showing an entire game of billiards between Gina, one of the filmmakers and the two main heels. Yet, I was never bored waiting to see what would happen next in this snowy Quebec landscape where-get this-illegal immigrants are coming in to take those textile jobs. Nearly half a century ago. No comment.

Celine Lomez (Elaine from cult favorite The Silent Partner) was memorable as the titular Gina; the rest of the cast that I had no knowledge of was fine but Lomez was the standout as the lady who was able to be vulnerable but could also kick ass during the finale. The aforementioned revenge was rather glorious; it is capped off by “the greatest snowmobile chase ever”, as the marketing proclaimed. There aren’t too many candidates, but I’ll agree as it was all done at night with little lighting so it was impressive on a technical level, nevermind how satisfying the conclusion was. The movie will eventually be purchased on disc; it’d be nice to hear the original language rather than the dub.

As for what I was referring to at the beginning, one of the scenes at the bar featured a song that sounded awfully like Bob Seger both in vocal and music despite it being unfamiliar to me… but thanks to IMDb and YouTube I know it was not. Instead it was J’entends Frapper (“I Hear Knocking”, according to Google Translate) from Michel Pagliaro. As my knowledge of Canadian music is rather barren aside from those that found at least some success in the United States, he was a performer new to me. Attempting to learn more about that scene should be done in the future… although the same goes for exploring Bob Seger’s discography aside from the big hits and a few other tunes.

 

Sampo

Sampo (1959)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Aleksandr Ptushko

Starring: Urho Somersalmi, Anna Orochko, Ivan Voronov, Andris Osins, Eve Kivi

From: Mosfilm/Suomi-Film

Please note that I’m reviewing the original Russian-Finnish motion picture Sampo, NOT the edited American International Pictures cut released in America as The Day the Earth Froze… which is quite the spoiler as it reveals a huge moment in the final act. Of all the sub-labels that have their discs distributed by Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile Films is of great interest to me: presenting (for the most part) European pictures obscure to the West. Awhile back I purchased the 1956 movie Ilya Muromets then reviewed the film; it was quite the Russian fable. As some of their titles are now available on Prime for rental, selecting another movie from director Aleksandr Ptushko seemed a wise decision.

This time, the production was a co-production between the Soviet Union and Finland as the film tells a loose adaptation of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, based on folklore & myths. The leads are a blacksmith, his daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend. She is kidnapped by an old witch who forces the blacksmith to make the titular Sampo… now, how do I describe something abstract, which I understand was never definitely defined anyhow? Think of it like the Horn of Plenty in Greek mythology. It is an object that brings good fortune, that is the keystone detail. Note that this is a fantasy, as the blacksmith Ilmarinen creates a red horse w/ his own hands (which made his earlier building of an iron boat look not so bizarre in comparison) and the witch Louhi literally steals the sun as a later punishment.

It was typical folklore… meaning, rigid characters and basic ideals. That’s not a criticism, just clarification. It was not a movie I loved as much as Ilya Muromets—the pacing could be rather languid, for starters, and Muromets presented a rousing adventure. Yet, I still was captivated by these myths new to me involving those bold characters and some fanciful creatures. The direction and score was nice, but the highlight was visually—like w/ Muromets, the effects are mostly still effective today and there is plenty of lovely scenery, whether outdoors or on sets.

If you believe the story is too arcane for those not Finnish and/or those familiar w/ its culture, the visuals will keep you engaged. It is a positive that in recent years, the most famous works of Aleksandr Ptushko have been restored so they can be fully appreciated around the world instead of being known in America for badly-edited cuts appearing on MST3K.

 

Ricochet

Ricochet (1991)

Runtime: 102 minutes

Directed by: Russell Mulcahy

Starring: Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, Lindsay Wagner

From: Warner Bros./HBO

It was yet another messageboard discussion that spurned me to finally tackle this movie again. It had only been watched by me a few years before I joined Letterboxd; the reason why it took so long will be revealed at the end. Someone mentioned they saw a JoBlo video on YouTube yesterday devoted to how underrated & entertaining that piece of sleazy 90's trash was. This user mentioned they were unfamiliar w/ it; me and others praised it. This gave me the push to praise the movie here.

Yes, this is incredibly sleazy & trashy despite starring both Denzel Washington and John Lithgow. The former is a neophyte cop teamed w/ Kevin Pollak; Denzel arrests Lithgow's insane Earl Talbot Blake after the hitman double-crosses some drug dealers. Unfortunately for Denzel's Nick Styles, Blake is an intelligent psychopath so after an escape, he engineers a rather improbable yet still memorable plot of revenge where he attempts to ruin his life.

The movie's from Russell Mulcahy, Joel Silver and Stephen E. de Souza; they gave us a picture featuring such plot points as child porn & the Aryan Brotherhood! If you think that wasn't outrageous enough, wait until you hear some of the dialogue. Blake telling a prison guard he flosses “with your wife's pubic hair” is mild compared to some phrases way too vulgar to mention here. Believe it or not, the opening credits will remind you of Saul Bass and Alan Silvestri's score will “remind” you of Bernard Herrmann; as the ending was totally Hitchcock, this was not designed by happenstance.

Slick direction and a talented cast (including Ice-T, John Amos, Lindsay Wagner, and Mary Ellen Trainor as Gail Wallens. Yes, she reprises her reporter character from Die Hard, meaning Ricochet is part of that universe) helped make this at times graphically gory picture compelling. Naturally, Denzel was great as a likable cop turned assistant DA w/ a nice wife and two young daughters, while Lithgow was The Joker-to echo multiple Letterboxd reviews-and was unforgettable as a madman. The movie did not do great at the box office, probably due to the rather similar Cape Fear remake releasing shortly thereafter. However, at least people can now watch it at home, but...

The reason why this was never reviewed by me before: probably due to nebulous rights issues due to its being made by HBO Pictures back when they tried the theatrical game, it has never entered the HD era except for a showing on Cinemax long ago that someone ripped (that is how I watched it last night, via “the bowels of the Internet”) where aside from the credits it is in the wrong aspect ratio. I understand this same version is the one currently on MAX. Hope was held for years that even digitally, a better copy would pop up. As it may never happen or at the very least I'd have even more gray hair if it ever does happen, last night felt like the right time to finally view this again.

Miracle Mile

Miracle Mile (1988)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Steve De Jarnatt

Starring: Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham, & plenty of familiar faces in small roles

From: Hemdale

Well, this film was a bummer.

The chaos that was the past several days with people visiting here on vacation... that has concluded. While it was great seeing them, “exhausting” is the main term to use & thus it is nice to return to normalcy. The reason for selecting this motion picture last night: as typical, discussion on a messageboard. Someone new to Los Angeles visited the most famous locations in the movie. As this found cult status in recent years, a review would have been done sooner... except that all the copies I know of for legal streaming are all in SD for cripes knows what reason. I'd rather test-drive the car then purchase it, you know; I imagine Kino Lorber did a nice job w/ the Blu-ray. Thus, to the bowels of the Internet for an HD copy.

The movie was quirkier and weirder than expected—not to mention some offbeat moments. That proved to not be a demerit once the action started. Seeing two free spirits purchase lobsters from a restaurant just so they can be freed from the ocean... no offense to anyone, but I roll my eyes at such actions. There should be no concerns about me not being charmed by the leads as played by Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. The jazz musician finally finds love at the age of 30 and right in the embryo stages of the relationship, he accidentally receives a call in a random Los Angeles phone booth from presumably NORAD dialing the wrong area code & revealing that nuclear war will begin in 70 minutes.

I was able to stick with this due to a variety of factors. The escalation of the inevitable, the increasingly haunting visage of Los Angeles, the stacked cast (Kurt Fuller, John Agar, Denise Crosby, Robert DoQui, Kelly Jo Minter, James Earl Jones' dad Claude, Earl Boen, Raphael Sabarge, Edward Bunker, AND Jeanette Goldstein?!), the sweet late score from Tangerine Dream, and most critically, the relationship between Edwards & Willingham. It'd be a crime to reveal more of the plot; instead, it'd be best for viewers to let the plot unfurl in front of their own eyes.

One last note: it took a prominent Letterboxd reviewer for me to learn that in late 2021, Edwards & Willingham married IRL. Awwww.

Day & Night

Yes, this is the 2010 Pixar short that played before Toy Story 3. Apparently I never discussed it at the time for whatever reason: 

This Pixar short was better than I remembered. It was only viewed in the summer of ’10, when it played before Toy Story 3. Back then, I had no idea there even would be a short (this shows how many Pixar films I saw in general at that point, let alone theatrically) & my opinion at the time was that it was just strange. I’d like to think that my knowledge of film has increased in the almost 14 years since… not to mention becoming wiser & more mature w/ age.

It is still weird that the two stars are humanoid blobs which show daytime scenes and nighttime scenes on their bodies, or that they naturally hate each other until… they bond over seeing women in bikinis? Yeah, that has aged like milk by 2024 standards and perhaps there were other ways for those non-verbal beings to communicate their similarities & thus form a bond. 

Even then, that point doesn’t ruin the short. After all, there is also a gag involving a waterfall which was a blatant reference to urination… after quarreling & being afraid of the unknown, they bond as a voiceover explains how the unknown should not be feared. That text was taken from an old speech by Wayne Dyer… someone I’d never heard of before but Wiki tells me he was a self-help author and motivational speaker popular in the 70’s, which may have been when many of the animators were kids themselves.

The blend of 2D & 3D animation and the vibrant score from Michael Giacchino were also key assets. A segment not liking a certain plot device is understandable; personally, this short is more appreciated by me than the theatrical experience way back when.

Madame Web!

Madame Web (2024)

13% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 215 reviews)

Runtime: 116 minutes

Directed by: S.J. Clarkson

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabella Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim

From: Columbia/Marvel

Did Sony create a patch for this movie? Before I get into why I saw the first movie disaster of 2024, the reviews I came across noted the villain delivering an explanation for his being evil… which wasn’t present in the movie. The villain has been said by everyone to have “much” of his dialogue obviously ADR’ed, which wasn’t seen by me either… but it certainly looked like his mouth was CG’ed to fix the problem! Please, no one go the cinema again to confirm or deny this theory. It didn’t look like anything else was changed—there is still numerous instances of cameras not focusing on the speaking character, lousy CG, acres of bad dialogue, how illogical the plot is, etc.

Yeah, this may be a lengthier review than typical. I only believe that the movie may be patched as if it was a typical videogame of the past few generations because it famously happened w/ Cats because it first came out w/ what looked like unfinished effects.

Normally I don’t attend the cinema to watch pictures deemed the worst of the year; however, the discourse surrounding Madame Web has been SO hilarious and several detailed reviews on YouTube have been watched… it was compelling to use AMC A-List to see the picture. It was amusing for me to check it out in an IMAX auditorium in an Orlando suburb w/ new seats and IMAX-12 sound.

Goodness gracious, the discourse just from people flipping out over Chris Stuckmann’s non-review of the movie where he dumped on Sony for allegedly ruining their comic book movies…. I don’t watch his reviews anyhow, whether it be his current “safe” mode or his prior outrageous persona full of way too many F-bombs. Truthfully, Letterboxd reviews more determine what I do and don’t see. His arguments are full of logical fallacies, to be honest. Then again, the ones in Madame Web are notably worse. Sony deserves part of the blame for how this movie turn out—so do the filmmakers. Were they inexperienced and in way over their head? It has became a meme how two of the screenwriters have failed upwards by writing such “classics” as Dracula Untold & Gods of Egypt. Director S.J. Clarkson was also another writer & credited as an executive producer, which doesn’t help Stuckmann’s argument.

I’ve known for many years how hard filmmaking is and there are a myriad of reasons why something could go wrong and a motion picture can turn out mediocre or worse. As of now, who knows why Madame Web turned out so poorly; many share blame, I am sure. Those who chose to bring this to screen is one, along with the director S.J. Clarkson. Then again, allegedly the original script was quite a bit different and Ezekiel Sims was going after the unborn Peter Parker; who knows why the changes occur.

Madame Web was a character unfamiliar to me whatsoever; whether or not it was “canon” to the comic books mattered none to me. This being an origin story didn’t help as those are played out now; even if it HAD to be one involving Cassandra Web and multiple Spider-Women, it should have been legitimately entertaining rather than a flop that me and many others howl in laughter at.

I’ll mention the main flaws, either for the first or second time: bad story, poor characters, inconsistent superpowers, acres of bad, stilted, unnatural dialogue, logical fallacies, them dancing around that this is a universe where Peter Parker is about to be born without mentioning he was Peter Parker, blatant Pepsi product placement, and many other problems. I do have some compliments to give: some effects were done in camera w/ the diopter, there is increased motivation to check out the GOOD projects the young talent has been involved with, the period songs were at least nice to hear (hopefully you won’t get Toxic stuck in your head; it’s easy to) and the score from Johan Soderqvist wasn’t bad… learning he scored Let the Right One In raised my eyebrows.

Overall, despite my incredibly low score I did not loathe the experience or thought it was as painful as a root canal like the Exorcist or Expendables sequels were. There are the caveats of my ambivalence towards the genre and my knowledge of the entire plot beforehand due to the reviews that got into the granular detail of the whole spectacle… the fact that the star of the movie made her dissatisfaction blatant and probably won’t ever see the end result only adds to the hilarity. At least this had the temerity to fail in such spectacular fashion.

 

Tomorrow, Expect a Trio of Reviews

That is all.

The Timid Young Man

The Timid Young Man (1935)

Runtime: 20 minutes

Directed by: Mack Sennett

Starring: Buster Keaton, Lona Andre, Tiny Sandford, Kitty McHugh, Harry Bowen

From: Educational Films Corporation of America

I finally saw a Buster Keaton short in the sound era, and boy does it pale in comparison to the golden era. As mentioned a few days ago, this week there’s been family and a family friend down here-both coming down here on vacation independent from each other; a good time’s been had, including a trip to Walt Disney World yesterday. Thankfully there was time now for me to relax, watch this short then type the review. It featured some other names I knew: Mack Sennett as the director and Laurel & Hardy heel Tiny Sandford as the heel here.

Until a few days ago when I saw a random photo of Lona Andre on a Twitter account of Old Hollywood, that was a name completely unfamiliar to me. To be frank, she was awfully cute… The main players (including Andre) were all fine in their roles… Buster ran away from a shrill harpy he is set to marry while Lona runs away from an arranged marriage to a schlub w/ a giant mustache; he picks her up hitchhiking. They literally run into Sandford, who was the foil the rest of the way, mainly out camping in the woods.

Some gags did make me laugh; however, the humor was uneven & there was some bizarre editing choices/continuity errors which were just bad. A shame that Keaton’s career went down the commode once “the talkies” came into being. Hopefully there are better examples from this oft-forgotten era of his career… one day I’ll find out. As for Andre, she only starred in B movies I hadn’t even heard of, then found more success in—Hollywood real estate, of all things.

 

Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers (1997)

Runtime: 129 minutes

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris

From: TriStar/Touchstone

How do people in 2024 NOT realize this movie was satirical? If not for my schedule I would have watched then reviewed this (for the first time in ages. This was long overdue) several days ago, when the discourse over the movie started on Twitter. Of course, it devolved into an argument over politics and “leftists” but it is best to not directly discuss that. I’d never heard of the first Helldivers game-let alone its sequel that came out-yet I now know it was heavily inspired by this film.

Even the director has noted that he noted the militaristic tone that could also be described as “fascist leanings” of the original Robert A. Heinlein novel and wanted to lean into that then use irony to make the story more interesting. Being a fan of the military is one thing; Starship Troopers shows the danger & the horror of a futuristic society which is a stratocracy (a term I recently used; this means a government run by military chiefs) can be awful when it comes to valuing human life. As someone who survived as a kid in the Netherlands during World War II when Nazi scum occupied it, no surprise that Paul Verhoeven would be against totalitarianism and blatantly dress military leaders in a certain fashion.

Thing is, those that aren’t down for satire or don’t agree with the movie’s message for whatever reason or fear that it will be too blunt with its message-regrettably, a problem with too many modern movies-fear not. Starship Troopers can be enjoyed as is: several teens are followed as they graduate high school then join the military to do their duty & fight the fight against giant alien bugs. After some high school drama, we see scenes of training before escalation occurs and they’re all off to space. There are many graphically violent deaths and corpses torn apart.

However, if you look deeper, the film has the underlying message that the bugs aren’t quite the evil entity the military government portrays them as and our protagonists all morph from young idealistic blokes to hardened fighters that have lost their humanity & empathy. This is buttressed by all the darkly humorous moments which expose the fascist world where human lives are expendable if they believe it will allow them to win the war. In any case, everyone can appreciate the direction, the editing, the rousing score from Basil Poledouris and the effects (practical from Phil Tippett and CG) which more often than not still look good. As for the cast, the leads mainly work as the white buff Aryan youths to reinforce the theme; the veterans like Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside deliver solid performances while Caser Van Dien & Denise Richards were fine. The favorite character of many (including me) was the badass Dizzy, as portrayed by Dina Meyer. What a shame that her career never reached the heights it probably should have.

I know you’d like to know more, but enough has been stated in this review already. The discourse surrounding the film since late last week was not something I could have predicated at the start of the month. At the same time, it gave me the necessary push to once again visit a world I should have gone back to years ago.

 

Burrow

This is a 2020 short from Pixar: 

Before I review this Pixar short, two points need to be addressed.

*This was viewed on the big screen last month when a trip was made to the cinema to witness Soul for the first time.
* In the upcoming week, don’t expect reviews of motion pictures every night. Both members of my family and a friend are visiting Florida. Much time will be spent w/ them.

Thus, more than one list will be posted and at least one short will be reviewed. For example, yesterday afternoon I posted a list devoted to my reviews from the Lethal Weapon franchise. Now, this was the right time for me to finally discuss what I revisited last night on Disney+.

The short is 5 ½ minutes long so there isn’t too much to elaborate upon, at least in terms of plot. A brown rabbit wishes to dig a burrow underground as a home. Her “blueprints” are a simplistic drawing on paper but you still feel bad as her digging encroaches on other homes built by a variety of animals; she’s more embarrassed about it than they were. Calamity happens but the ending is thankfully rosy.

This was part of Pixar’s SparkShorts series, where the studio gives its employees six months to create a short. This creation from Madeline Sharafian was simply cute between the charming 2D animation, the score that was more than one composition from Mozart, and a nice story which was free of dialogue yet the images said 1,000 words… it was a nice reminder that even the shorts from the legendary studio can be a sheer delight.

An Update

In the upcoming week, don’t expect reviews of motion pictures every night. Both members of my family and a friend are visiting Florida. Much time will be spent w/ them.

Thus, more than one list will be posted on Letterboxd (like I did this afternoon with my list which contains my reviews of the Lethal Weapon films) and at least one short will be reviewed. The shorts will be posted here.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

Runtime: 70 minutes

Directed by: Charles Reisner/Buster Keaton

Starring: Keaton, Marion Byron, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrance, Tom Lewis

From: United Artists

Let’s ignore the steamboat’s name of Stonewall Jackson and instead appreciate this late effort from Buster Keaton where he was able to do his own thing. Jr. flopping at the box office regrettably had that impact on his career; one day I should check out Keaton during his early sound era for curiosity’s sake but it was about time I saw one of his most popular efforts for the first time.

Jr. is a smart college kid returning from Boston (w/ Vince McMahon mustache… no wonder Sr. wanted it shaved off!) to take over father’s position as steamboat captain of a ramshackle old ship… much to his reluctance. At least there’s his old lady pal Kitty-the daughter of a rival captain who has a new spiffy ship. The expected hijinks happen. After a slow start, the film becomes a sheer delight, especially when a cyclone hits & causes destruction.

If you’re unaware, this film was the origin of Buster’s most famous clip: the side of the house falling on him but he’s in the spot of the empty window. How many times has that been shown/spoofed in the almost 100 years since? The rest of the gags of course won’t be spoiled; instead I’ll conclude that while this isn’t legendary in my eyes like The General or have a high rate of gags per minute in shorts like One Week, Steamboat Bill, Jr. is still a quality late silent and one of the last hurrahs for Buster Keaton.

Shakedown (The 80's Film)

Shakedown (1988)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: James Glickenhaus

Starring: Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, Patricia Charbonneau, Antonio Fargas, Blanche Baker

From: Universal

When I view a movie because of a Tweet… on this day where my review is posted a little earlier than typical on a Friday due to my schedule, it was my stumbling upon this Tweet-a second account responding to a first Tweet, which was then reblogged by a third account, none of whom I follow-which gave me the push to finally check out a film I’ve known of for many years. In terms of James Glickenhaus, The Soldier was quite the letdown due to a bad plot but The Exterminator was at least wildly fun at times, albeit far from polished.

The story is occasionally clunky but otherwise was fine in presenting its tale of public defender Peter Weller teaming up with narcotics detective Sam Elliott to try and take down some dirty cops who are also racist-insert your own pithy comments if you so wish-in the sleazy New York City of Old. Of course I enjoyed the few scenes filmed in Times Square (including the action setpiece almost halfway through which was in the Twitter link & the accounts praised for being fun) and laughed when I heard a rap cover of Subterranean Homesick Blues… then guffawed when I realized it was by the Red Hot Chili Peppers! I can count on two fingers the times I’ve unexpectedly heard that song in a film the past four weeks; weird how it’s happened twice already.

The two protagonists do some ethically and morally questionable things throughout; be that as it may, the villains of course are easy to hate (including Antonio Fargas as a drug dealer who I wish could have played a bigger role in the plot) and whether you enjoy a sleazy NYC setting like me, a stereotypical 80’s score and/or satisfactory action beats which at times can veer suddenly into OOT territory-look at the ending-then this is B-action which isn’t a must-see but if you wish that the movies of today will randomly feature a protagonist who blasts Purple Haze in his kitchen as he makes himself a breakfast of popcorn and an Orange Julius which includes a hint of coffee… that could also be used as a metaphor for Shakedown’s plot: a number of elements come together which don’t exactly fit but the resultant concoction was good for my tastes.

Double Door

Double Door (1934)

Runtime: 75 minutes

Directed by: Charles Vidor

Starring: Evelyn Venable, Mary Morris, Anne Revere, Kent Taylor, Guy Standing

From: Paramount

Mary Morris belongs on the list of “best one movie careers.” She was a famed Broadway actress (not to be confused w/ the British actress) who reprised her role on the stage for the movie adaptation, and despite being asked by Paramount to continue a film career, she “wasn’t impressed” & stayed in the theater world. It’s a shame for cinema as she was tremendous as a deliciously evil old spinster of a rich woman who was acidly bitter that her younger half-brother was marrying a “common” nurse. Morris was at least 20 years younger than the despicable Victoria character.

The opening credits themselves are incredible; the face of Vickie appears in extreme close-up Victoria does not even attempt to hide her disgust over poor sap Rip’s nuptials w/ the charming Anne. The opening scenes are the couple marrying at the estate & not only did she needlessly snipe at her staff, Victoria also acts passive-aggressive in not giving Anne the family pearl necklace & stops the organ player from finishing The Wedding March. From there, the succubus from Hell escalates her behavior, including literally playing said organ to flout her villainous ways.

Victoria does dominate the film but that is key as the viewer learns how she’s able to manipulate & ultimately have everyone put up w/ her s*** despite her gaslighting and overwhelming personality. At times people have to act naïve to advance the plot but otherwise it was a fun trashy thriller where the titular double doors refer to a soundproof room. That detail is mentioned early on… wonder if it will become an important plot point later? While Morris impressed me the most, the rest of the main players (Evelyn Venable, Anne Revere, Kent Taylor) were all sufficient for their parts.

Those that love ‘30’s thrillers, thankfully this can easily be found on YouTube for those predisposed for such entertainment. The ending receives a <chef’s kiss> from me.

Up

Up (2009)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Pete Docter

Starring: The voices of Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo

From: Disney/Pixar

I know people will be appalled that I just saw Up last night on Disney+ for the very first time. This is despite knowing for almost 15 years the details of the heartbreaking, gut-wrenching opening. I’d never even track down that opening then stop watching. It was long overdue to fix this mistake on my part. Turns out, I knew precious little after the opening 11 minutes, the two leads and Dug. Charles Muntz was a mystery to me, let alone Kevin.

The first 11 or so minutes are indeed a masterpiece. Carl and Ellie meet as children over their mutual admiration of explorer Muntz. From there, they fall in love, get married, aren’t able to have kids, pine to visit Paradise Falls in South America-as that’s where Muntz vanished to-and then concludes in tearjerker fashion. It was incredible between the visuals and the long stretches that are only scored by Michael Giacchino’s stirring music. That opening did live up to the hype & left me bummed out due to a now-elderly Carl having a nice life despite the disappointments and not being able to visit the location he and his deceased partner dreamed of.

Up does not rise up from such an astounding beginning or even maintain an even keel; the plot was at times predictable due to what seems like a Pixar formula (even I have noticed it, as someone who’s not even seen half of their feature film output) and “annoying kids” aren’t my favorite trope so it took some time to warm up to Russell. On the other hand, the story was more bizarre than even what I was expecting from “elderly man uses thousands of balloons to float his house to South America”; magical collars that allow for dogs to speak English, being able to drag along your house on foot & giant birds was not what I was expecting to see on the menu, yet this was presented to the viewer.

Overall, I was still entranced by this film—the two leads experience character growth and I was always charmed by Carl, whether as a kid, an adult in his prime or a cantankerous old man. It was nice to see an elderly lead treated both accurately & fairly, not to mention juicy voice roles for Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer. Lovely visuals and a quality score are further assets. To reiterate, it was a delight to have finally gone on this trek & enjoy a family film which thankfully had no puerile, crass “humor” even if not all the jokes landed.

The Japanese Version of Rodan

(yes, the film from 1956) is better than the American cut I viewed on TV years ago: 

It was about time I finally viewed the original version of Rodan after long ago reviewing the 10 minute shorter American cut that was played on TCM on a night co-hosted by Dennis Miller. Yes, he discussed kaiju movies. The edited version I did not love so it was only fair that the Criterion Channel be used to finally talk about the unedited version… which was an improvement.

The setting was a mine & the surrounding village. I did not recall the horror elements (several bloody corpses are seen, to list but one example) or even the giant insects that were the precursor to one of kaiju’s most famous critters making its debut. As typical, the team of director Ishiro Honda, composer Akira Ifukube & special effects marvel Eiji Tsuburaya-not to mention his entire team-did a swell job in creating an interesting world w/ quality miniature effects & emotional scores. In Rodan, the latter was the most impressive between the believable moments of the insects, all the buildings & props built, and even if “you can see the wires” sometimes, the prehistoric creature in flight.

The human element wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen from the genre but it was still fine; the miners stumble upon eggs that hatched Rodan, the military attempts to fight back, etc. The serious tone and the delay in showing the title creature worked for me in this scenario, Toho’s first kaiju picture in color… and also something I did NOT remember or it was edited out of the American cut—this mentioned “the theory of global warming” & the polar ice caps melting. In 1956.

Quest for Fire

Quest for Fire (La Guerre du Feu)(1981)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Starring: Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Rae Dawn Chong, Nicholas Kadi, various different actors representing various tribes, including several professional wrestlers

From: A few different French and Canadian companies

Now here is a worthwhile Stone Age movie. Out of Darkness was a massive letdown for me so I wanted to finally discuss this famed motion picture. Regrettably, all the legal streams of the film (in the United States, at least) are of a terrible VHS rip, at least judging by the print on Prime. As the copy on YouTube isn’t great either, I had to visit “the bowels of the Internet” once more and went with a 720p rip instead of attempting any deeper digging for 1080p. The effort was worth it.

The setting here was 80,000 years ago, where homo sapiens evolved at different rates, at least according to the film. Perhaps it’s not the most scientifically accurate, but in this case who really cares? After an opening scroll explaining the importance of fire and how tribes had to find it rather than create it themselves, one clan’s fire is extinguished after an attack. A trio-including Everett McGill & Ron Perlman in his movie debut-go on the titular quest which takes them across all sorts of landscapes (everywhere from Quebec and Iceland to Kenya; how curious) and they meet Rae Dawn Chong along the way.

I’ll mention this aside now as leaving it until the end would result in a downer to conclude the review. The trio meet several different tribes throughout; one featured a few professional wrestlers. There was The Great Antonio, an actual strongman who was extremely eccentric. Giant Haystacks was another enormous human being who competed against the likes of Big Daddy in the UK. Then, there was Adrian Street, a glam rocker Bowie/androgynous type who passed away this past summer. He competed in the United States for years but before, in England once wrestled… Jimmy Savile. Yes, Savile had some joke “matches”, and Street roughed him up for his disrespect. Street had no idea at the time that Jimmy was such a horrible monster. As a Yankee, I’d never even heard of Savile until the truth about him broke. As I’m sure the Netflix documentary about him is a tough watch, this is probably the only time I get to mention that SOB.

Anyhow… the movie also has a simple plot yet I was captivated throughout. The trio have quite the adventure that includes meeting the other tribes & encountering various animals, usually extinct in modern times. The movie’s only dialogue is ancient languages created for the film that aren’t subtitled; all the other cues are presented to the viewer so you’re never off in the wilderness bewildered as to the happenings. This plus the bold score from Philippe Sarde enveloped me in this world-a unique world presented in a unique way. Having to hunt for a decent print is unfortunate but was worth the effort… as will be me in the future experiencing more from director Jean-Jacques Annaud.

 

Out of Darkness

Out of Darkness (2022)

Somehow, 84% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of74 reviews)

Runtime: At least it was only 87 minutes

Directed by: Andrew Cumming

Starring: A bunch of people I had never heard of before

From: This was from Bleecker Street

Allegedly, this was a horror film; I’d say it is more a survival thriller… although this was neither horrific nor thrilling. If it wasn’t for seeing one trailer for this (before I.S.S.) I’d have never heard of this British movie from a few years ago that was picked up by Bleecker Street for release due to how barren 2024 will be at the cineplex due to the strike. It was the premise that chiefly had me interested—that is despite the trailer making it look like Great Value A24. Actually, a trailer I saw in front of this was truly Great Value A24, but more on that at the end.

The premise is that 45,000 years ago, a small group of ethnically diverse characters (yeah, that is perhaps dubious, but that’s the least of my problems w/ this) are on a journey to find a better homestead; this is represented by Scotland, which apparently does a great job of representing a barren landscape. Someone or something is hunting them, and… that’s as complex as the narrative becomes. This on its own is not an issue; however, when Out of Darkness has a small cast and all but one character is a complete bellend (w/ the leader of the gang the biggest A-hole)… believe it or not I quickly lost interest in this nonsense.

Besides the fact that it’s a basic story filled w/ knobheads and the “color palate” was completely desaturated, the print itself was so dim, it was like I was back watching Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem! No, I’ve never reviewed either AvP picture—once I finally do, expect blistering takes from me. Those are just some of the many missteps in this movie; I know many think this is at least OK but I couldn’t disagree more. This has many of the modern filmmaking tropes that I think are tripe; this includes “OOT gruesome moments out of nowhere.” I’m glad many got more out of this than what my experience was.

They invented an entire language and it was subtitled; that and a decent score were interesting but as a whole this was a massive disappointment as the Stone Age setting is one that always has been underserved in the world of film and something creative could have been done. Instead, the setting mattered little and I was not surprised to hear that one Letterboxd mutual felt narcoleptic during their viewing. 

The trailers were more interesting to me. It was mainly horror and my opinions were mixed. Sasquatch Sunset is a GIGANTIC “nope”; those that remember my review for Everything Everywhere All at Once know that absurdist “humor” makes me physically nauseous which is why most from that genre is avoided. It was my first time viewing the Madame Web trailer; of course it looks terrible yet judging by her “not giving an F” attitude during the press junket, Dakota Johnson believes it actually is terrible!

One Shot

One Shot (2021)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: James Nunn

Starring: Scott Adkins, Ashley Greene, Terence Maynard, Waleed Elgadi, Ryan Phillippe

From: A number of companies… including one tied to the Chicken Soup for the Soul people?!! I can’t explain it.

A standard action film using the one take/real time gimmick… but it was still entertaining. When this was released three years ago, I surprisingly heard little chatter for it. That only came around when its sequel One More Shot came out just recently. As it stars a favorite of mine (Scott Adkins) and features some other names I knew (Ashley Greene, Ryan Phillippe) it was about time I… gave this a shot.

It’s a stock tale involving a squad of Navy SEALs who w/ liaison Greene are to escort a prisoner-who of course is Middle Eastern and of course is tortured by the Americans-from a CIA black site are ambushed by “insurgents” who wish to take him out; it relates to a planned bombing. Indeed, it’s a fact that this is full of cliché which won’t please everyone; the villains are as vile as expected. The prisoner is given a backstory but the entire American military angle will turn off some, and no side eye on my part for this opinion.

The plot wasn’t a revelation; be that as it may, the action did deliver. It will remind you of a videogame; if you don’t mind watching someone play Metal Gear Solid (to use a popular comparison) then there is fun to be had with all the scenes of countless dozens getting mowed down, mainly via gunfire although there’s sometimes martial arts/knife action in addition. The one shot film gimmick manages to work in this case as the focus isn’t always on the SEALs; some time is also spent w/ the A-hole villains and the prisoner.

There is not too much else to say about the picture; the description will determine whether or not you ever want to spend a few bucks on a rental.

 

The Diabolical Dr. Z

The Diabolical Dr. Z (Miss Muerte)(1966)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Jesus Franco

Starring: Estella Blain, Mabel Karr, Howard Vernon, Fernando Montes, Marcelo Arriota-Jaugegui

From: Several different French and Spanish companies

In my last horror film for at least a few days, I decided to give Jesus Franco another shot. In short, I enjoyed 1962’s The Awful Dr. Orlof while a pair of 70’s films (Nightmares Come at Night, A Virgin Among the Living Dead) less so. Henceforth, choosing something else from the 60’s seemed like the right path to take. Thankfully a nice print was available on Kino Lorber’s streaming site, Kino Now.

The simple plot description that can be found on multiple sites, to paraphrase: “A woman looks to avenge her father’s death by using a local dancer… because she has long poisonous fingernails.” True (and also memorable, which is why it caught my attention) but it’s more complex than that. The Dr. Z is both father and daughter; they discover a way to control people via the nervous system. Colleagues scoff at them for wanting to test on humans; he literally drops dead of a heart attack and the daughter is PISSED. She uses that tech to essentially brainwash henchmen (& women) to do her bidding and kill said colleagues… one of whom was Howard Vernon, as of course he’s in a Franco picture.

The movie was simply delightful despite how sordid the material was. I enjoyed the cinematography quite a bit; striking shots were seen throughout. Even better was the jazzy score; props are deserved for Alejandro Ulloa & Daniel White, respectively. It was a lovely-looking & sounding tale which of course had its kinks given the director but I was engrossed throughout by the vile Irma Zimmerman, her slaves & the scientist/detectives (including Franco himself) finally realizing something is amiss.

I was delighted to find a Franco film that was more my jam. In the future, I’ll seek out more from him, including in other genres. The Diabolical Dr. Z managed to include a Robert Bresson reference and 10 minutes later reveal that Dr. Orlof is part of the movie’s universe.