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The Creature Walks Among Us(1956) 5/10 at a push
The third and last in the series. Phew!
Gill man gets captured and the boffins fix him so he can breath air. And, heyho, in the morning he's made millions of years of evolution. I think that's what the meant. The scientific jargon sounded mostly like bollocks and was taken for granted. Gillman got to wear some overalls. The film ended rather abruptly with him buggering off into the night- the end. On the plus the film didn't waste much time to get going. Vast played it straight.
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Posted: |
Nov 1, 2023 - 11:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE CREATOR (2023) – 7/10
Another tale of A.I. gone wrong, THE CREATOR is set during a time of war between humans and A.I. robots. The robots, of course, had originally been developed to help man, but had eventually set off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, killing a million people. So, Americans embarked upon a campaign to destroy all existing robots wherever they may be, even in countries that are still accepting of the A.I. beings. In support of this effort, they developed a massive flying battleship—NOMAD—that can drop huge explosives.
Into this conflict comes U.S. Army Sergeant “Joshua Taylor” (John David Washington,) an African-American with two mechanical limbs, who has gone undercover and infiltrated the village of Ko Nang near the clandestine lab of scientist Nirmata, who's developing an A.I. super weapon called alpha-omega. Joshua goes native and marries Nirmata's Asian daughter “Maya” (Gemma Chan.) A military raid splits up the couple, and the pregnant Maya flees and is written off as dead. Taylor resigns his commission.
Five years later, Taylor, because of his inside knowledge, is asked to accompany another raid, led by “Colonel Howell” (Allison Janney), to hunt down and retrieve Nirmata’s latest weapon. That “weapon” turns out to be a beatific, monk-like robot child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) capable of learning and growing, but not of reproducing. The child’s godlike powers position her as a potential A.I. messiah. In the course of the action, Taylor gets a videotaped glimpse of Maya in the lab where the alpha-omega was developed. He absconds with “Alfie” (his name for the child robot). He wants it to help him find Maya, its creator-mother. The quest puts Taylor at odds both with American forces and those who wish to protect the child.
There is plenty of combat and explosives in this sci-fi actioner, but not much deep thought in producer, director, co-writer Gareth Edwards’ screenplay. One plus for the film is Edwards’ decision to minimize use of green screen and do as much shooting as possible on location in Southeast Asia. This results in more realistic-looking visuals, despite the overlay of CGI effects.
Edwards initially attempted to have a company specializing in A.I.-generated music replicate Hans Zimmer's style of music. Although the process gave him satisfying results, Edwards ultimately hired Zimmer to originally score the film. Zimmer provides a good score that can raise the emotions on occasion. It would be interesting to compare his score with its A.I. counterpart.
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A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Director, cinematographer and editor excel during first act setting up the scene of the crime, but after a certain character exits stage right the spark dies and the film sinks into a gloomy funk it never recovers from. And rather than counter this sinking mood and play up the conventions of the genre, Hildur doubles down on the morosity. It isn't until the very last 30 seconds of the film that she and the director open the curtains and let some light in — which is too little too late to revive this dank and dour affair.
6/10
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Posted: |
Nov 5, 2023 - 1:09 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Anna (2019) ... 4-/10
Fun, but ludicrous, actioner which was a mixture of Nikita (1990) and Red Sparrow (2018) but not as good as either. At times annoying but after a while it made sense, the times shifts presented scenes which explained the storyline, always keeping you guessing: was Anna working for the Russians or the Americans ... or herself?
Helen Mirren provided solid support in her Rosa Klebb role ... it took a moment or two to confirm that the dowdy miserable character was the star ... and I liked Luke Evans as her recruiter (and, to some extent guardian); less so Cillian Murphy who seemed wrong for the CIA counterpart.
Lots of flashy scenes, changes in location, but OTT action sequences: the restaurant and break-out sequences near the start and end of the film ruined the it's daft but let's go with it aura and turned the film into a comic book story. The film would have been much better without these two stupid scenes.
Busy, at times loud, score by Eric Serra ... it did its job but was forgettable.
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Posted: |
Nov 12, 2023 - 12:42 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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WHAT HAPPENS LATER (2023) – 7/10
Meg Ryan makes her first big-screen appearance in 8 years in this two-character comedy-drama based on Steven Dietz's 2008 play Shooting Star. The film follows two ex-lovers who, after bumping into each other when their flights get delayed due to a snow storm, spend the night at a small, mostly deserted airport reliving their past. Coincidently, the pair have similar names—“Wilhelmina ‘Willa’ Davis” (Ryan) and “William ‘Bill’ Davis” (David Duchovny).
The film betrays its stage origins with its single airport set, and a disembodied voice (the airport’s P.A. announcer, as Greek chorus) sometimes directly addressing the characters. The things that Willa and Bill talk about are not all that dramatic or funny—their lives since parting ways in college, their families, their hopes and dreams and what became of them. The picture is a mash-up of SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR, and the Dan Fogelberg song “Same Old Lang Syne.” It’s the likeability of actors Ryan and Duchovny that make the piece work. The film runs a little long at 103 minutes.
Meg Ryan also directed the film, as she did for her last big-screen role in 2015’s ITHACA. The $3 million production has grossed $2.9 million in its first two weeks of art house play. David Boman provides a melodic score between a number of songs on the soundtrack.
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THE HOLDOVERS (2023)
Director Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, The Descendants, et al) makes a comeback with this tale, set in Massachusetts during the Christmas holiday season of 1970-71. Paul Giamatti excels as a sad sack character (as he did nearly 20 years ago in Sideways), a classics professor for decades at a boys' school. He is assigned/punished, due to his integrity in not passing a poor student who is the son of a powerful politician, to stay at the school over the holidays being a guardian for "holdovers" - students who have nowhere else to go for the 2-week break. He has an especially adversarial relationship with one particularly undisciplined boy. Also staying over is the school's cook - a grieving mother of a former student recently killed over in Vietnam.
Yes, there is the expected exploration of these characters through their interactions and confessions. This might all be predictable, but Payne beautifully crafts the entire movie and takes the time (this small-scale drama runs nearly 2 hours 15 minutes) to let the viewer live side by side with these lonely, albeit defensive people. I don't want to make it sound too serious or sweet; there's plenty of dry humor and heated confrontations. This is a great melancholy Christmas film - a Christmas party at the house of one of the school's secretaries is so real in its awkwardness and crushed hopes that it twinges.
There is some playfulness to the opening credits taking advantage of the early 1970s setting. They open with the old "R" rating white and blue logo and the Focus Features and Miramax logos are given a time-appropriate look. (Unfortunately, with the cliche of crackling sound over them. If we're to get into the right period mood, the soundtrack from 50 years ago would not be in used, beat-up shape. But I'm nitpicking.) My favorite bit is the Roman numeral year for this film given as MCMLXXI, as though this really is a movie from 1971.
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Posted: |
Nov 14, 2023 - 4:11 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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FINGERNAILS (2023) – 7/10
It’s sometime in the near future, and science has developed a test to prove whether two people will be compatible in love. All it takes is a little piece of oneself—a fingernail to be exact. A whole fingernail. “Anna” (Jessie Buckley) and “Ryan” (Jeremy Allen White) have found true love, and the test proves it. There's just one problem. Anna still isn't sure. She decides to take a job at a love testing institute, where she meets “Amir” (Riz Ahmed).
This drama has both sci-fi elements and squeamish moments as it explores the boundaries of how far we’re willing to let science dictate the vagaries of the human heart. The film doesn’t make it clear how long this scientific love affirmation procedure has been around, but it’s long enough that people have come to accept it as a viable predictor of human compatibility. If some people have doubts about wanting to undergo the test at all, or if someone wants to reaffirm their love by going through the test again, while their partner does not, what does that say about each party? Can you truly trust that person?
This is director and co-writer Christos Nikou’s second feature film. Christopher Stracey provides a quiet, contemplative, and sparsely orchestrated score, available as a download.
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Posted: |
Nov 15, 2023 - 9:39 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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House of Mortal Sin (1976) ... 5-/10
I watched this with grave  doubts, not expecting much. But it was better than that, albeit somewhat tedious at times, overlong by 15-20 mins.
It was interesting to see so many UK TV actors and the story which develops in a very standard way ends unexpectedly. I had thought we'd be kept guessing who the villain is but this is obvious very early on so the story concentrates on the stupidity of the innocent characters. With several deaths one wonders why no police ever appear and the sideline story of the housekeeper is too silly ... it hardly impacts on the main story until the final, deadly, act.
Lead Anthony Sharp dominates the film and regretfully his character's obsession - Susan Penhaligon - almost disappears from the story for the last act, her place taken by co-star Stephanie Beacham. As this character has now discovered the truth, her actions defy belief.
A nice w/s print, good colours, good sound and an enjoyable score from Stanley Myers ... the main title gives way to some eerie sounds which work well (e.g. when boyfriend Terry goes to recover the cassette recording).
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