A few reviews

[Zaharoff]

She Creature - 2001 - 6/10

Dublin carnies fleece the rubes with fake zombie and fake mermaid in 1904.



They encounter the seemingly “real deal” and kidnap it, then book passage for America.
PT Barnum, Ringling Bros, and limitless wealth beckons.
They fail to realize as the ship sails the Atlantic, the creature’s influence and power grows.
Modest production values (Stan Winston involved), capable set of actors, intelligent script.
Decent late night yarn. Beware nudity and erotic situations.

[Zaharoff]

Sharknado 5 - 2017 - 4/10



Latest installment of overcooked, feeble minded franchise.
Who watches this? Guilty here, I live with two obsessed sharky finatics.
Story borrows from - plays homage to - steals from a plethora of action classics.
For the knowledgeable, there will be quotes, puns and groaners.
Cameos litter the cast. From desperate has-beens to cosmetic surgery survivors who resemble lab experiments.
Story? Oh, sorry. Shark infested tornadoes down spout the globe.
Luckily for those nations there are Yanks who will save them.
One of them even says, “We’re trying to make America great again ... make the world great again.”
Audiences across the planet howl in glee.

[Zaharoff]

Forbidden Planet - 1956 - 7/10



Earth expeditionary force travels to far flung, scientific outpost, which has become incommunicado.
On arrival, officers meet the lone survivors: the colony’s linguist and his daughter.
All other scientists and colonials had been slaughtered by a mysterious, unstoppable force.
Long dormant, the murderous force reawakens.
Your grandfather’s SciFi, vintage yet quite watchable.
Eerie electronic score, good special effects (consider the year), and planet interior sets that are still impressive.
One of the few psychological SciFi’s, though that aspect is a bit heavy handed.

[Zaharoff]

Born To Be Blue - 2015 - 6/10



Iffy musing on Chet Baker’s “missing years.”
Between the glamorous, youthful heyday and the stubborn comeback.
The years when his teeth were knocked out and he had to rebuild his embouchure.
This is not a biopic proper. The girlfriend is a composite of Halema, Diane and Ruth.
Bit careless on chronology, too. And the ending -- no.
Credit to filmmakers for trying to show the unpleasant side of Baker to balance the talent.
They did not go far enough, though, and this is too feel goody for my understanding of Mr Baker.

[Zaharoff]

Let’s Get Lost - 1988 - 7/10

After watching Ethan Hawke’s well meaning, but sweetened portrayal of Chet Baker, I dug out this blunt alternative.
The face and soul of chronic addiction.



Difficult, at times abrasive, portrayal of the performer, something of a cult figure.
Flashbacks, old photos, recent performances.
Candid answers and ruminations from Mr. Baker are contrasted with corrections from fellow sidemen and the women in his life.
Mother, one of his wives, his daughter, two girlfriends.
This is a beautiful film, gorgeous in black and white, but it is something of an art project.
Director Bruce Weber sticks to his conceit of withered beauty, focusing on time and heroin’s ravage of the Prince of Cool
A haunting viewing experience, though it is not a documentary, and certainly not a biography.
Let’s Get Lost is more Bruce Weber, and less Chet Baker.

Confession, I'm a huge fan of Chet Baker. I have close to sixty recordings and I'm still buying titles of his.
A poignant artist of despair and regret, especially in his mature years.

[Zaharoff]

Cheerful Weather For The Wedding - 2012 - 6/10

Unexpected guest arrives at the bride’s family house the day of her wedding.
Her old flame. Invited by the bride.
Love story of the girl who waited, and the boyfriend who waited possibly too long.
Story is laced with regret, longing, errors recognized, and unconfessed feelings.
Large family with identifiable types: those who adore nuptials, those who would rather drink.
Set in 1932 over what seems like less than a year.



The “lovers’” history is told in flashbacks and is shown in golden hour.
Plot never unrolls as expected. One is also left with a question or two.

Not necessarily a chick flick, but enjoyment may depend on one’s tolerance for:
1) It’s my prerogative to change my mind
2) I don’t make a decision until the last minute -- sometimes after.
I live with both types and have been trained to shift gears in an instant.

[Zaharoff]

Weinberg - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - The Valley



A man revives underneath a dead girl, bleeding him awake.
He stumbles into the village, alerts the authorities, who find -- no body.
The next day he sees the same girl, very much alive, wearing the harvest princess outfit.
Alive just for the day, until night. Until darkness gathers and the wraith.



Our protagonist, a drifter with amnesia, is in the middle of a history of murders.
The remote village is a haunted landscape of mist, autumnal decay, and buried secrets.
Part horror, part mystery, more than anything - for lack of a better word - weird.
With every scandal unearthed, corruption revealed, sin exposed, the adversary exalts.
Imaginative, six-part Gothic labyrinth from Germany.

[Zaharoff]

Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have the Key - 1972 - 6/10
AKA - Il Tuo Vizio è Una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave



Kinky, sleazy, degenerate, incestuous, slightly confusing, but what the hey?
An entertaining Giallo with plenty of twists and slashings to please cult fans.
Washed up, philandering alcoholic writer holes up in his inherited manor house.
He entertains homeless hippies, humiliates his downbeat wife, and chases tail when not suffering whisky dick.
When some of his paramours are split open with a hook knife, locale polizia zero in on him.
Out of the blue, his niece (the succulent Edwige Fenech) arrives and shares the velvet spasm with eager comers.
There are like five plots going on, but you will be transfixed by the nudity, rompings, gore, dirt bike races, and a contrary black cat named Satan who knows more than his human counterparts.

[Zaharoff]

Biblia Koshodô no Jiken Techô - 2013 - 7/10
AKA - Antiquarian Bookshop Biblia's Case Files
ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖



Wonderful J-drama for people in love with reading, addicted to books - real books, especially used books.
Set in a cozy, golden hazed bookshop, Biblia Antiquarian Bookshop Case Files revels in ordinary, seemingly impossible mysteries that proprietress Shinokawa has an uncanny knack for deciphering.
Just as well, too, as the puzzles get harder and ofttimes deadlier with each week.
Shinokawa’s tall male assistant, Goura, acts as Watson to her Holmes, asking questions about the books referenced, and jumping to impulsive (invariably wrong) solutions to the mysteries.
Many of the problems are affairs of the heart, others plunge into the obsessive realm of book collectors.
Therein might hint why this imaginative, clever series fared so poorly ratings wise.
Non-readers might have felt excluded, believing it was targeting a very limited audience.
Then again, a lot of people don’t like books and actually dislike reader types.
Each week, one book is focused on. Eastern authors, as well as Western.
Marvelous little series.

Note: If you need subs, I overhauled. http://addic7ed.com/show/4894

[Zaharoff]

Run All Night - 2015 - 5/10



Non-demanding action buffs, score this higher, though long time viewers of Liam Neeson might shake their heads.
Sad sack, ex-mob enforcer learns family is targeted for deadly retribution.
What to do? Mob family or blood family?
Do his old skills kick in? How will he fare against thugs bigger, younger, quicker?
Clichéd, derivative script borrows heavily from The Road To Perdition.
Run - fight - chase - fight - hide - fight - run - fight .....
Actor Common memorable as cool headed professional hitman, everyone else coasts.
Better than Taken 2, better than Walk Among Tombstones, but still ...
Why does Neeson appear to be following the path of Nicolas Cage?