A few reviews

[Zaharoff]

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]

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]

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

[cannibal cop]

Quote Originally Posted by Zaharoff

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]

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

[Zaharoff]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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. ♫