A few reviews

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

Sleep Tight

Sleep Tight - 2011 - 6/10
AKA - Mientras Duerme

Suspenseful thriller about the creeper.
Barcelona concierge uses his pass key to unlock guest rooms in the middle of the night.
Chloroform ensures no one wakes up.
While tenants slumber, he explores, or pulls down bed sheets.
One habit he does is brush his teeth with their toothbrush, then wipe it dry.
That pales next to other actions which I won't spoil here.
Disturbing mix of home invasion and peeping.
Nice one for late night.

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

The Page Turner

The Page Turner - 2006 - 8/10
AKA - La Tourneuse de Pages

Déborah François in a poisonous turn.
During her tryout recital to get admitted into a prestigious academy, a young girl’s dreams are destroyed by one of the judges.
The judge was a famous performer in her own right. Only she was bored, indifferent, and keeps answering her cellphone. Even signed an autograph.
Ten years later.
The high strung pianist doesn’t recognize, let alone remember, the pretty blonde who becomes her page turner, confidant, trusted companion.
The young girl remembers the older woman, however. All too well.
Ice cold film of patience, leading to the twist of the knife.
Women seldom forgive, they never forget.

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

Abwege

Abwege - 1928 - 7/10
AKA - The Devious Path

German silent, directed by Pabst.
Very much a precursor to Pandora’s Box and Diary Of A Lost Girl, this also explores moral shortcomings and the lifeless underbelly of the decadent Weimar.
Wife (Brigitte Helm), married to strait-laced fuss-bucket banker, deserts him one night to party with “more liberated” friends in hedonistic club.
Banker sits at home, window wide open, letting in blasts of freezing air, thinking of divorce options.
The club sequence, meanwhile, is a showstopper, and goes on for perhaps twenty minutes.

Pabst revels in the excitement, the loose morality, the sheer boredom, the drunken excesses, the hazy confusion.
Far better than most films I’ve watched, this gives a real feel to the jittery edge of Berlin before the street riots between Communists and Nazis.
Ending displayed the censor’s hand, unlike the bleak pit of Pabst’s next two films.

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

Shiri

Shiri - 1999 - 7/10
AKA - Swiri // 쉬리

Shiri was one of those films that put Korea on the map for Asian action fans.
Also a viewed as a passing of the action genre torch following the Hong Kong takeover in 1997.
Narrative revolves around a breakaway N Korean unit trying to disrupt peace gestures.
Espionage cat and mouse punctuated with high voltage gunfire sequences.
In the midst of all that a love story tries to blossom.
Red meat for Asian fanboys. Loosely remade into IRIS.

Zaharoff · Jun 5, 2017

Vengeance

Vengeance - 2006 - 5/10
AKA - Phairii Phinaat Paa Mawrana // ไพโรจน์ไพนาทภาวนา

How did I miss this one?
Wildly over-the-top Thai actioner.
Convicts bust out of the prison with determined police in pursuit, helped by local guides.
Until cons enter the forbidden jungle. Then guides flee.
Police charge in anyway!
Next thing, there are jungle maidens wielding crossbows.
Killer wasps. Menacing midget crocodiles. Giant snakes. The cursed village!
Terrible acting, ridiculous CGI, preposterous plot.
I gave it a 5, but it is brilliant for what it is.
Must see, if you are into this. I laughed throughout.

Robert Adam Gilmour · Jun 5, 2017

I liked The Page Turner. One of those rare films that appear on television that I have no prior knowledge of, take a chance on, then enjoy a lot.

Zaharoff · Jun 6, 2017

Big Combo

The Big Combo - 1955 - 6/10

Daring, perverse Noir finds obsessed detective pursuing boss of major syndicate.
Cornell Wilde OK as cop, Richard Conte excellent as cool, controlled organization leader, always two steps ahead of authorities or slippery enough to glide out of snares.
Swanky jazz score along with fine ensemble acting drive this one.
Famous with Noir buffs for the dramatic lighting, every shot is a master study in black n white contrast.

The Production Code was pushed to the limits with this one.
Forgetting the strippers momentarily, the more I watched Conte’s two gun men (Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman), I noted they shared a room, one was bare chested, and they kept touching each other.
Also, Conte’s trophy girl tries to escape, complains how she hates him, but cannot break away.
In a key scene, boss Conte, standing behind her, drops quietly down, and her facial reaction is one of anticipated pleasure.
Conte’s hold on her seems a cunning one.

Zaharoff · Jun 6, 2017

I R I S

IRIS - 2009 - 7/10
AKA - Airiseu // 아이리스

Convoluted K-drama actioner.
20 interlocking episodes with a cliffhanger or surprise ending each one.
Begins as espionage, gradually the existence of IRIS is revealed.
Conspiracies and plots spread like weeds.
Backstory and relationships are established in the first couple of episodes. By #04, the pedal goes down.

Gunfights galore. Lavish production values, filming sprawled across several global locations.
Unbearable romance elements. (the bane of K-dramas)

I thought this ended at Ep 17, but no, there were still plot twists and fresh narrative.
Wildly popular in Asia, spawned two sequels (mixed reviews there).

Zaharoff · Jun 6, 2017

Bothersome Man

Bothersome Man - 2006 - 7/10
AKA - Den Brysomme Mannen

Norwegian parable.
Office drone wakes up on bus roaring down oblivion highway.
He is dumped at a shack, then ferried to his new city, new apartment, new job.
Everyone is cheery, friendly, and work duties are undemanding.
Bonus, he lands a girlfriend who is agreeable and willing.
Sound like Paradise to you? Yeah, well, some types are never happy with their lot.
The new man is dissatisfied. He cannot pinpoint what his problem is with Eden, but he wants something else.
And he gradually makes everyone around him uncomfortable.
Well thought out visuals, maddening dialogue, and steady pace as the reveal unfolds.

Zaharoff · Jun 6, 2017

KEDi

KEDi - 2017 - 6/10

Lightweight “documentary” for masochists. Oops, excuse me, cat lovers.
Everyone else, caveat emptor. γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Camera follows several cats living in Istanbul.
Humans care for them, declare how amazing they are.
Felines lead a merry life in an exotic locale.
Nothing negative whatsoever in this.

Cat people should purr happily watching this.
Captures feline personalities and activities.
I have been to Istanbul and can assure you there are many cats like these.
At an outdoor cafe, a big orange tom sat next to me and kept thumping my leg when he wanted more food.
In another bistro, a cat curled up beside Zelda and slept, happy sharing her warmth.

Zaharoff · Jun 6, 2017

American Mary

American Mary - 2012 - 6/10

Don't piss off the wrong females. Especially medical students.
Mary gets invited to a party by surgeons, gets drugged. Date raped.
Then she pursues the guilty, showing supreme body modification skills.
Dark, funny, but loses direction to focus on oddballs and freak seekers.
Neither as gory, nor as exploitative as it ought to be.
Chick horror meets carnival sideshow, with no sense of the jugular.
Juicy role for Katharine Isabelle.

Raul Urraca · Jun 6, 2017

Thank you so much for your reviews, Zaharoff! I will certainly check out some of these movies.

cannibal cop · Jun 6, 2017

Re: Sleep Tight

Zaharoff said:
Sleep Tight - 2011 - 6/10
AKA - Mientras Duerme

...

The Page Turner - 2006 - 8/10

Yeah, I guess I liked these about the same as you.

Page Turner had the bonus of a lot of very nice music to enjoy, too.

bendk · Jun 6, 2017

Great thread, Zaharoff. Appreciate the reviews. Will get to all of the "thanks" later.

Zaharoff · Jun 7, 2017

Blonde In A White Car

Blonde In A White Car - 1958 - 6/10
AKA - Toi... le venin

Glossy French sleaze.
Man walks down deserted beach road, late night.
A huge, white Cadillac creampuff slows down and a silhouetted blonde asks if he wants a ride.
“No thanks,” he declines
“Hop in anyway,” she insists.
He climbs in and she drives to secluded woods.
Kills the engine, opens her robe - revealing no clothes, and she gives him a ride that makes seat springs squeal.

When she’s finished she kicks him out at gunpoint, then tries to run him down in the car.
Boy scout that our hero is, he gets the license number and tracks the car to the home of two blonde half sisters.
Both are jealous, manipulative, game players. And both are lonely.

One of them is a crazy psycho - maybe both of them.
Ever the fool, the man wants to know which one is wacko, so when they offer him the guest room, he stays.
They purr into his stupid male brain and wrap spider silk around him tighter and tighter.
Shallow - slow - unsavory, with a jazz score that wails like a deranged stripper joint.

Zaharoff · Jun 7, 2017

Big Sur

Big Sur - 2013 - 7/10

Languid adaptation of Kerouac’s novel, focusing on a couple of stays at Ferlinghetti’s mountain cabin.
Slow going and meandering, yet enjoyable for fans of the author and the Beats.
Kerouac is older here, haggard, and well on his descent into alcoholism.
Opening paraphrase sums up the curse of fame and expectation -
“All over America high school and college kids are thinking Jack Kerouac is 26 years old and on the road hitchhiking, while there I am, almost 40 years old, bored and jaded,”
Might be difficult for those who know the Beats through movies, not their writings.

Zaharoff · Jun 7, 2017

L'empire des Loups

L'empire des Loups - 2005 - 6/10
AKA - Empire Of The Wolves

Forget the plot, dismiss the young stud, overlook the amnesia hottie.
This is Jean Reno’s film and he kicks ass throughout!

Three young girls have been murdered and mutilated in the Turkish quarter of Paris.
The young inspector is stymied, and is advised to reach out to a disgraced, ex-cop.
Schiffer, known in the force as Mr Shifty.
To the illegal Turk underworld, he is The Shaft. Interrogation of terrified contacts is brutal.
Meanwhile, there is a girl with amnesia, pursued by cops, doctors, and the Gray Wolves (Turkish assassins).
Loud music foreshadows action, galloping mindless plot, characters with the personalities of biscuits.
French film, apparently influenced by Michael Bay.
Wowza on a big scale, if you can follow along.

Zaharoff · Jun 7, 2017

Elusive Justice

Elusive Justice - The Search For Nazi War Criminals - 2011 - 7/10

Incisive documentary hounds the trail of escaped WWII criminals.
After the Nuremberg show trials, and regional / national trials, the major powers opted to put the past behind.
(Rarely on trial were the scientists, whom all nations wanted).
Especially interesting is the Vatican to Argentina conduit, used by hundreds.
The “ratlines” as they were known, used Nazi gold as payment though that was not discussed.
Second half of the doc followed ongoing hunts and extradition attempts.
Race against time, as it were, before now quite old Nazis die off completely.

This was real news in the 80s, and I often wondered, “What’s the point?"
These are frail, elderly men, just forget it. Except - no - we should not.
There should never be a “statute of limitations” for war criminals or mass murderers.
Otherwise, the next generation will assume they too can kill, and die of old age in their sleep.

I watch a fair amount of war documentaries and their aftermath.
To my eye, history seems on the verge of repeating itself, as nations everywhere place a “strong man” in charge to solve their problems.
People wave and cheer and scream, as the tide eddies us closer and closer into Corryvreckan.

Zaharoff · Jun 7, 2017

Cockneys Vs Zombies

Cockneys Vs Zombies - 2012 - 6/10

Guess the title says it all.
East End construction crew finds underground vault sealed in 1666.
Hmmm ... let's open it!
Next thing you know, a gang of bank robbers are fighting the undead who have surrounded an old-aged pensioners home.
Features Alan Ford, Richard Briers, Honor Blackman (!).
Also the very catchy pub song,

♪ We're going head to head
♪ With the undead.
♪ You can fill 'em full of lead
♪ But they won't stay dead. ♫

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