Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good weekend,and I've recently seen:
Italian Crime quartet:
No Way Out (1973) 8.
Burning Arzenta's life away in front of his eyes, director Duccio Tessari & cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti load up a thrillingly sawn-off Italian Crime atmosphere, siding next to Arzenta as he inflicts his revenge in excellent fluid hand-held camera moves dragged across the ground,placing the viewer right in the centre of the action. Appearing to be illegally filmed, Tessari spins the car chases with a thrilling smash and grab atmosphere of rapid-fire whip-pans hitting the sides of streets which Arzenta's car grinds against. Blowing up the power of the gangsters, Tessari shatters them with a ultra-stylised use of glass.which Tessari smacks each of Arzenta's fatal revenge shots.
Wanting to finally go straight, the screenplay by Franco Verucci/ Ugo Liberatore and Roberto Gandus reveal to Arzenta that none of his old friends will allow him to go down this path,thanks to the writers blending a taut revenge tale of Arzenta burning them all away, with the crunch of a hard-nosed Italian Crime, leading to a gloriously brutal ending.Whilst Erika Blanc and Rosalba Neri bring a touch of glamour as the arm candy, Alain Delon gives a fantastic performance as Arzenta, thanks to the calm aiming he takes at getting his revenge, being charged by Delon on the growing realisation of no way out.
The Long Arm of the Godfather (1972) 7
Rubbing Silvano D'Auria's fuzzy Jazz Fusion score (D'Auria's lone credit) over groovy credits, the lone credit from co-writer/(with editor Giulio Berruti) director Nardo Bonomi spins with cinematographer Silvio Fraschetti in giving the Italian Crime genre a trippy twist, as gashes of bright red blood shots are scattered against the abrasive bright colour and crackerjack zoom-ins on low-level criminal hippy Raffica and his girlfriend Sabina try to outplay godfather Carmelo, by stealing his arms shipment in order to sell it themselves.
Sending the crime out to the high seas, Bonomi takes a wonderfully odd detour into the Disaster Movie genre, via stylish wide-shots sailing on Raffica and Sabina taking their criminal winnings out to sea. Standing out thanks to there being no moral authority cop in the main role, the screenplay by Bonomi and Berruti twists the hard-edge Italian Crime beatings into a wicked generational divide between the underhanded, old school Carmelo, and the flamboyantly ruthless Raffica. Laying on the bed naked multiple times, fittie Erika Blanc gives a excellent turn as Sabrina, thanks to Blanc loading Sabrina's raunchy gaze with a feisty grit shown when taking part in double dealing, as Adolfo Celi's keeps Carmelo delightfully oily when he stretches out his long arm.
Emergency Squad (1974) 8
The lone title in the genre where he supplied his own voice for the Italian dubbing, (sadly not included in the Big Gun DVD box set I watched from) Tomas Milian gives a wickedly cool performance as Ravelli. Spending most of the movie in dark shades with a cigar in his mouth, Milian brings a ruggedness to cop Ravelli's growing desire to bend the rules and get revenge for the murder of his wife, which Milian keeps burning in the back of Ravelli's mind during flashbacks to her death, which Milian brilliantly brings slowly to the front,in order to end on a melancholy note.
Caught in the cross-fire, Ray Lovelock gives a very good turn as Micheli, who Lovelock has as wanting to remain loyal to his boss, but getting a sinking feeling of one too many lines being crossed. Haunting Ravelli to the killing of his wife, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Dardano Sacchetti/ Gianfranco Barberi and Adriano Bolzoni) director Stelvio Massi thrillingly take Ravelli's thirst for revenge as a wraparound to gang leader Marsigliese hostage taking to build his retirement fund, a plan which gets grated by Ravelli.
Backed by a blissfully funky score from Stelvio Cipriani, director Stelvio Massi & cinematographer Sergio Rubini closely work with editor Mauro Bonanni in building a blazing Italian Crime atmosphere of razor sharp smah-cut edits cracking to lightning fast zoom-ins and zoom-outs on Marsigliese and Ravelli's latest take down. Whilst serving up welcomed eyefuls of skin and blast of red across the screen, Massi flexes the action hits with lingering, refined wide-shots gliding across the skyline to Ravelli finding that there is no emergency squad to save him from his grief.
Magnum Cop (1978) 6
Going against the brute grain of the era, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Fulvio Gicca Palli/Franz Antel and Gino Capone) director Stelvio Massi refreshingly brings a knowing Comedy side to the Italian Crime genre, barrelling down in a Taxi Driver spoof and Brigitte's Hare Krishnas trance. Whilst the comedic side brings a playfulness to the movie, the writers sadly have it dent the building of tension in Wally's investigation, due to a abrupt stop/start of going from serious to funny.
Whilst spinning the wheels on the Italian Crime genre staple of roaring car chases, director Stelvio Massi & cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini stylishly place the viewer in the front seat of the action, via tightly placed cameras inside the cars which run on the adrenaline of being up-close to the gangsters firing from their car. Along with the welcomed sleazy eye candy, Massi brings a slickness to the Italian Crime grit, via a terrific use of glass reflecting clues to Wally (a great,rough and ready Maurizio Merli.) Stripping in a attempt to distract Wally, Joan Collins gives a great, mean-spirited turn as Brigitte,who Collins has sizzle on the magnum force.
Shudder Originals/Exclusives:
Z (2019)8
Wisely limiting Z to two full appearances, co-writer/(with Colin Minihan) director Brandon Christensen & cinematographer Bradley Stuckel closely work with sound designer Miguel Nunes in friending a highly evocative soundtrack of subtle creaking floorboards, walks up/down the stairs and electronic toys, creating a strong, chilling impression of Z.
Whilst being part of the post-Insidious (2010-also reviewed) New Wave of Haunted House movies, with jet black shadows papering the household walls, Christensen brilliantly runs a creepy atmosphere from the breakdown of the Parsons family, in long, still wide-shots held on events taking place in the background of each shot, and playful in-camera tricks of panning/close-ups to reactions of off screen sound effects bringing out the terror Z holds the Parsons in.
Starting Joshua and Z's friendship with the traditional set-up of kid has a imaginary friend,which turns out not to be imaginary, the screenplay by Brandon Christensen and Colin Minihan, intensely move that outline to Gothic Horror chills from a excellent character study of Elizabeth Parsons (played by a stunningly brittle Keegan Connor Tracy) thanks to Elizabeth's son Joshua becoming pals with Z, breaking open trauma from her own suppressed childhood memories. Unveiling the Parson's history of Z from research by family doc Dr. Seager (played with sombre gravitas by Stephen McHattie, the writers twist the Haunted House into a icy ending that brings Elizabeth back to her friend Z.
Witching and Bitching (2013) 9
Bewitching the viewer with a jewel shop robbery involving a man dressed as a toy solider and another man being joined by his young son,as he takes part in the robbery dressed as a silver Jesus, co-writer/(with regular comparator Jorge Guerricaechevarría) directing auteur Alex de la Iglesia reunites with cinematographer Kiko de la Rica, and performs a breathtaking multiple change of genre,running with the robbers out of the shop in rapid-fire whip-pans that becomes seated in a road movie of smooth criss-crossing pans and zoom-ins on the increased bickering of the robbers.
Shooting a SpongeBob SquarePants blocking their way to the getaway car, Iglesia conjurers up a gloriously wacky Comedy atmosphere of ultra-stylised tracking shots into the heart of the witches coven,twirling to zip-line close-ups on the cackling witches,and the hilarious quivering in their boots reaction from the jaw-slacked guys. Whilst dipping Slap-Stick Black Comedy over everyone, Iglesia impressively keeps the comedic balanced, whilst treating the horror Jose, Antonio, Sergio and Manuel come under the spell of seriously, via a decadent lair for the cannibalistic witches, spun in shiny blacks and splinters of yellows being swept along by the brooms, which Iglesia sends flying with a spectacularly over the top Monster Movie final battle.
Crisply establishing the friction between Antonio, Jose and his son Sergio in the snapping back and fourth during the robbery, the screenplay by Iglesia & Guerricaechevarría dip these relationships into a witches cauldron of Jose (a great, quick-witted Hugo Silva) Antonio, (a wonderfully chatty Mario Casas) and Manuel (a funny, nervous Jaime Ordonez) becoming increasingly aware that their detour from a quick getaway does risk them dying, but increasingly finding themselves unable to break a bewitching spell.
Satan's Slaves (2017)8
Going up from the well to the house by the cemetery, writer/director Joko Anwar & cinematographer Ical Tanjung paint Rinl's house with a exquisite dusky atmosphere of warm,dry yellows, expressing the long history that the family has in the house, which becomes shaken from white-sheet ghosts and decaying zombies crashing the house party.
Displaying a striking thoughtfulness in the stylisation of the devil's slave arriving to pick up their collection in chilling glass reflections that Anwar fades in/out over, and cracks with long, icy wide-shots on the demonic ghosts seeping into the background of the house, the subtle atmosphere Anwar attempts to weave, is undermined by the clanging score from Bembi Gusti/ Tony Merle and Aghi Narottama, which hammers any chance for silences to breath, ill-judged jump-scare noises, making the chills not come from the eerie visuals,but sudden outbursts of loud music.
Spending years trying to get this prequel to the 1982 original film made,and becoming the first Indonesian production to be shot in 4DX format, the screenplay by Joko Anwar superbly brings Islamic traditions into Rini (a wonderfully expressive Tara Basro) and family attempting to withstand their location becoming the house of the devil. Refreshingly going for a bitter, down beat, ending, Anwar cleverly uses snippets from newspaper and old magazine the family find, to unroll what their relatives have enslaved them to.
Dearest Sister (2016) 10
The only Horror director,and the first women film maker in Laos, Mattie Do & cinematographer Mart Ratassepp eye the mysterious figures Ana speaks to, with restrained, fractured angles that allows the viewer to make their own full impression of them. Entering Ana and Jakob's luxury building from the dusty side-shots hanging round Nok's poor rural life, Do builds a excellent contrast in glossy,crystal clear tracking shots round the house,which Do shatters into spike-driven jump-cuts,as the vision to the lifestyle Ana surrounds herself in becomes visible to her.
Bringing Nok in to care for her rich blind cousin who believes she can talk to the dead, the screenplay by Christopher Larsen subtly transforms the horror from ghouls, to greed,as a revaluation of a gift Ana unknowingly has from her blindness, leading to poor Nok becoming a parasite, desperately trying to grab the money that trickles down from Ana, whilst Ana's old servants try to drag Nok off her place, in order to stay at the end of the ladder,where they have been kept for years.
Continuing his relationship writing scripts for Do, Larsen impressively avoids taking easy money, by instead going for superb, detail characterization where no one is simply good or bad, thanks to keeping the fear Nok (played by a fantastic,spiky Amphaiphun Phommapunya) has of being pushed back down to the poor house, staying at the front of all the choices she makes, whilst Ana (played by a outstanding debut turn from Vilouna Phetmany) is gripped by her blindness blinding Ana from being at ease to give her full trust to people,even Ana's dearest sister.
Mayhem (2017) 8
Invading the office space with a half-zombie virus, director Joe Lynch & cinematographer Steve Gainer release the rage with a banging Pop Horror appearance of ultra-stylised slick whip-pans and fast cut edits building the surge of energy driving Cho and Cross. Going from the front doors to the top floor, Lynch drills a vibrant Splatter Horror Comedy atmosphere of bright, candy coloured blood sprayed across the screen, and bone-crunching sound effects pulled from Cho changing his office tie for pent-up rebellion.
Working in just one office block for the entire movie, the screenplay by Matias Caruso leaps over the risks of things becoming repetitive, thanks to the cackling End Of Level Boss pushing Cho and Cross forward from each increasingly brutal fight with fellow office staff. Spewing rage at his fellow staff, Cho is set off by Caruso with jet-black satire of the office culture worker drone, sending Cross and Cho into a zombie rage against the senior staff determined to stop them climbing the ladder.
Surrounded by the raging,rather than the walking, dead,Steven Yeun gives a live-wire turn as Cho,whose frustrations over being grounded down by fellow staff into almost becoming one of them, is hammered into pieces by Yeun. Entering the office wanting to challenge a decision staff made, Samara Weaving gives a lovely, Pop Punk performance as Cross, whose goofiness Weaving screws in with a wicked flair of viciousness,as Cross and Cho unleash mayhem.
The Furies (2019) 7
After doing a handful of shorts, writer/director Tony D'Aquino enters the feature film arena with a sizzling Ozploitation atmosphere diced in the dialogue-free Furies each stamping round with their own unique Slasher-baddie style mask,and weapons that hack chunks of red on the screen in gloriously gory practical special effects. Mapping out the hunting ground, D'Aquino & cinematographer Garry Richards contrasts the crimson colours of the Furies attacks with stylish burnt trees and dry sand being swept up in tense tracking shots keeping up with the targeted.
Kicking out of boxes to find themselves on a hunting ground, the screenplay by Tony D'Aquino successfully targets a thrilling Ozploitation riff on Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game,placing on a knife edge survival Horror tension from Kayla, (a wonderful battle warrior Airlie Dodds) and the others captive eyeing weaknesses of the big game hunting Furies. Glimpsing Kayla regaining her memory of what happened just before the hunt, D'Aguino curls the Horror with nifty Sci-Fi conspiracy locking on who is really playing a most dangerous game.
Monstrum (2018)6
Causing absolute carnage in the 16th century King Jungjong's reign,co-writer/(with Heo-dam and Jeong-uk Byeon) director Jong-ho Huh & cinematographer Dong-Yeong Kim fire flaming arrows at the Manstrum tipped with long shaking dolly shots bringing a Dynasty Warriors flavour to the battles, via the dolly shots rapidly spinning round the fighting warriors. Whilst the CGI can look iffy when it is running towards people, Jong-ho gives Monstum a mighty raw, thanks to a limited use of fire highlighting the hairs on the beast.
Bringing Monstum to life in the middle of a battle for the kingdom, the screenplay by Jong-ho, Byeon and Heo-dam string the Monster Movie with high-wire Wuxia Melodrama from Yoon Gyeom fighting to keep Jong's kingdom secure,as others see the Monstum as the chance to stage a coup. Spending the first 40 minutes building up the monster with Gyeom finding the leftover bodies of victims left in its path, the writers oddly undermine the threat of the beast, with badly judged fart jokes taking the roar from the Monstrum.
Cinema of Spain:
La batalla del porro (1981)6
Marching into the new army recruits training facilities for his lone non-TV Special/Doc, co-writer/(with Francesc Bellmunt/Juanjo Puigcorbe and Miguel Sanz) director Joan Minguell & cinematographer Tomas Pladevall are surprisingly shy in letting the ladies get involved in the action, with Minguell instead grabbing gags of the recruits regularly getting undressed and being inspected. Escaping from the facilities to cross the river to a naked colony, Minguell wheels out the hi-jinks in long criss-crossing pans between the lads swimming to freedom, and Matarrana trying to fish them out.
Joining this army in the early days of what would become over 100 credits,Victoria Abril gives a perky turn as Violeta, with Abril capturing Violeta merry cheekiness over catching the eyes of all the lads when she gets naked, and a eagerness to help them all escape Matarrana. Stamping round like a hot-headed Sgt. Slaughter, Paul Naschy delivers with relish the puffed-up Matarrana barking orders at the new recruits.
Voyage to Nowhere (1986)8
Taking the novel he wrote on the voyage, writer/director Fernando Fernan Gomez brings a detailed novelistic, Neo- Realist attention to detail in the screenplay, with the decades spanning of Carlos Galvan's family on the road trying to make a break in show-business being heavily felt in the character sketches Gomez draws, of each family member confronting the stark poverty in the country, presenting little chance of their voyage every reaching stardom.
Originally working on stage, Gomez brings his knowledge of that world into the folk Comedy of the family, who Gomez has chewing on cinema with a sharp dismissive view on cinema not having the purity of the theatre. Jumping into various eras of the family between a interview where Carlos Galvan (played by a outstanding Joseph Sacristan,who wears the decades of Galvan's life on his face) is looking back on his life, Gomez gradually weaves the Neo- Realism hardship the family face with sparkling flight of fantasy, tearing up the censorship General Franco had placed on the arts thanks to Galvan's dreams of making it to the top, on the voyage to nowhere.
Dante no es únicamente severo (1967) 10
Teaming up together after having each separately made documentary shorts, co-writers/co-directors Jacinto Esteva & Joaquim Jorda bring the capturing the moment of documentaries, into their incredible fragmented surreal creation.
Splashing stories a woman (played the enticingly mysterious Serena Vergano) tells a disinterested man across the screen which visibly displays a poster for Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le Fou (1965), the co-directors bring the fluidity of the French New Wave to each story, with the airless state of the camera flying on a atmosphere of it dovetailing each tale. Along with eyeing enough eye surgery footage to make Lucio Fulci giddy, the directors make the 75 minutes move at the blink of a eye,thanks to a astonishing flow of multiple filming styles crystallising a surreal atmosphere of fading changes in colour tinting, abrasive altering of film stock and freeze frame photographs, all turning on in-camera tricks that turn time back three minutes before the world ends.
A sangre fría (1959) 9.
Astoundingly in synch to the visuals, Jose Sola composes a lush,complex Jazzy score of tribal drums beating to the speed of the getaway car and silky high notes to Carlos high stakes robbery. Later saying that German Lorente did not work on the script,and was only credited "So that he had some copyright", the screenplay by writer/director Juan Bosch shreds Carlos teen rebellion streak with the hard flint of Film Noir. Joining the group as the youngest/least experienced in high crime, Bosch crumbles Carlos's idea of gang loyalty with a refine ruthless cunning Manuel being captured by Bosch as skilfully placing Carlos as the fall guy, and Isabel uses her Femme Fatale seduction to wind Carlos and Manuel round her little finger.
Unveiling the breaking of any sense of loyalty after the robbery with the murder of old timer Fernando Sancho being loaded in a first-person shooting, director Juan Bosch & cinematographer Sebastian Perera come up with ingenious ways to do two-shots,such as Manuel arguing with Isabel, who is off-screen,but her face is kept visible next to Manuel in wall mirrors. Storming the streets of Barcelona with bullets of light bursting from the towering long shadows, Bosch and Perera open up a blistering evil under the sun Film Noir atmosphere whipped up by ultra-stylised tracking shots driving the robbers to the border, hitting coiled close-ups in the safe house inn imploding.
Poetically ending on the wrong side of the tracks from which he came from,Carlos Larranaga gives a great, simmering turn as Noir loner Carlos, whose frustrated fuming Larranaga uses to make Carlos turn red when being betrayed. Elbowing Fernando Sancho's expert touch as Enrique,in order for him t become the new boss, Arturo Fernandez gives a fantastic, calculating turn as Manuel, whose every withdrawn facial expression is carefully played by Fernandez as Manuel always trying to think one step ahead. A siren to all the men in the gang, beautiful Gisia Paradis, (who sadly died at just age 50 from a overdose) gives a utterly magnetic performance as Isabel, thanks to Paradis flaming Isabel's seductiveness, as a mask for betrayal in cold blood.
Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953) 10
Ordered by the Franco-era censors to cut a scene from his feature film debut of a school teacher dreaming of meeting a American due to it being deemed "Erotic", co-writer/(with Juan Antonio Bardem) directing auteur Luis García Berlanga & cinematographer Manuel Berenguer go into town with a wickedly sly satire on the Marshall Plan.
Dissecting the town with dissolves mapping out parallel action sequence shots (a recurring motif of Berlanga) that bring the place to life, Berlanga draws a hilarious animated atmosphere, painting Fernando Rey's dead-pan narration moving at a Screwball-Comedy speed, which spins the whip-pans onto each locals attempt to present a fantasy version of the town in order to impress the Americans. Bringing the dream crashing down to earth with a very funny bitter punch-line,Berlanga sets up the gag with ultra-stylised dips into absurdest surrealism,entering the dreams of the locals with tracking shots circling the fantastical level the town is hyping the arrival of the Americans to.
Whilst playwright Miguel Mihura was only given credit to give the title a prestige image (Mihura did not work on the movie),the screenplay by Berlanga and Bardem paint the town with genuine prestige from their incredibly witty script, via the writers drilling into the Marshall Plan allowing the US to become more involved in Europe, from the locals of the impoverished Castilian town wanting to be the best in show for a delegation of visiting Americans, by spending every penny they have ,in the hope that the false version of the town they present won't leave them empty handed,but gain wealthy benefactors,as they welcome Mr. Marshall.
Other flicks!
Porky's (1981)5
Put together over 15 years from a composite of incidents either he or his friends experienced, the screenplay by writer/director Bob Clark keeps the ragtag origins visible, with the shift from the guys getting on the wrong side of Porky, to the lads eyeing ladies in the shower, coming across as disconnected from each other, due to the pick up and drop state is in when focus moves to the other one. Whilst going for gags of the guys failing to get lucky, the most successful jokes are ones where Clark brings heart to the teen Comedy genre, reaching a peak in the mad-cap dash final of the students getting their own back at Porky.
Becoming a unexpected smash hit, director Bob Clark reunites with regular cinematographer Reginald H. Morris offering a teasing level of skin for the teen crowd, mixed with mildly gross-out Comedy that keeps the centre-piece shower scene still standing proud. Highlighted in Arrow's very good transfer, Bob Clark places the gross out jokes in a sweet 50's setting, where grainy bright red beams over the guys getting up to drunken mischief, and teaming up to get revenge on Porky.
Death's Glamour (2006) 7
For what is currently his final feature film, writer/lead actor/director Luc Moullet continues remaining loyal to his French New Wave (FNW) roots in his collaboration with cinematographer Pierre Stoeber, whilst bending FNV to absurdest, surreal Comedy. Backed by a sweet low-key score from his brother Patrice,Moullet casts a warm comedic atmosphere from dissolves created by Moullet planning where his cast will stand on the mountainside. Breaking the 4th wall in a loose adaptation of Cecil B. DeMille's The Whispering Chorus (1918),the screenplay by Moullet reels in wry laughs from Moullet faking his own death to raise funds for his next production (!), which Moullet (who plays a very funny dazed version of himself) spins into light satire of film makers being self-important over their work. Giving himself a ID cover in order to watch people pay tribute to him, Moullet twirls with a twist involving the passing of another film maker of the French New Wave.
Rabid Dogs (2015) 5
Currently his lone co-writing (with Benjamin Rataud and Yannick Dahan)/directing credit, Eric Hannezo & cinematographer Kamal Derkaoui drive into the edges of Mario Bava's colourful Horror stylisation, most noticeable in a Festival of the Bear celebration in a small town, covering the screen in flickering flames and Folk chants, whilst the car ride is frozen in time, via a dip into Bava's surrealist side by Hannzeo,with a cover of Radiohead's Creep washing over the frozen in time passengers.Keeping the Bava- inspired styling to the edges, Hannezo drains the real-time format of tension, by shooting the rest of the flick in a flat glossy appearance, which rids the car ride and violent outbursts of any tension or grit, due to them being presenting in dry mid-shots.
Stuck in a car with four actors whose performances as four bank robbers is stuck in the interchangeable mumbling gear,Lambert Wilson (aka:The French guy from Matrix 2 and 3!) gives the stand out turn as the dad, thanks to Wilson taken the clean-cut dad,and chipping away to his way,as he finds himself trapped with rabid dogs.
King Cohen (2017)8
Skipping past his childhood with just a few comments and photos, director Steve Mitchell bites into juicy archive footage of the TV shows Larry Cohen got his start on, with insightful narration over the clips capturing Cohen's ability to see a job opening, along with a growing desire to break out of the restrictions placed on TV programs at the time.
Opening with J.J. Abrams talking about his memories of meeting him as a teenager, Mitchell gathers a excellent selection of interviewees to discuss Larry Cohen's impact, from Martin Scorsese on the way Cohen shot New York in, to fellow indie genre director, the super cool Fred Williamson talking about the push and pull relationship they had when working together. Covering each era of his TV/film works with archive footage and behind the scenes clips, Mitchell's extended interview with the film maker goes into his gleeful guerilla style film making, in some cases coming up with scenes on the spot! Featuring a touching tribute to the last time he met Bernard Herrmann, Steve Mitchell in turn presents a delightful tribute to the unique career of Larry Cohen.
