Five days. It's finally come down to five days. I never thought we'd get here. The past (almost) four years have seemed like four interminable decades. In five days, we have the opportunity to vote out the mouth-breathing filth and his knuckle-dragging excrement of an administration. Will we do it? That shouldn't even be a question given Trump's negligence in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, his gleeful participation in sowing the seeds of hate and division in the country, the pathological lying and endless tweets, his cruelty and vindictiveness, the admiration for murderous dictators, the diminishment of the United States in the eyes of the rest of the world, the blatant disregard for any sense of civility that isn't self-serving. And that's not all. The list goes on and on. The evil and corruption are endless. He needs to go, should never have been near the White House in the first place. Now, after four hideous years, we have the opportunity to vote him out a...
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"Innocents With Dirty Hands" is a difficult film to critique. Without a proper restoration, the true beauty of southern France doesn't really enhance this mundane 1975 thriller from French film director, Claude Chabrol. The washed-out, drab-looking 2003 DVD from Pathfinder Home Entertainment shows its age: it plays fine but is unlovely to look at. However, the beautiful Austrian actress, Romy Schneider, appears in nearly every scene displaying copious amounts of skin, and even the so-so quality of the DVD doesn't detract from her obvious appeal. The plot features Schneider as Julie, the younger trophy-wife of Louis (Rod Steiger), a middle-age rich guy with a whole slew of problems, none the least of which is his fondness for intoxicants. Ensconced in a palatial, modern horror near St. Tropez, Schneider's Julie is bored and horny, spending naked afternoons sunbathing in her back yard while Louis swills booze and staggers around wondering what the heck he's doi...
I know, I know, yet another movie post but it's either this, or a coruscating discourse on the current state of American affairs, and if you need reminding of just how bad things have gotten in these not-so-United States of America then you probably won't like what I have to say on the matter anyway. But, oh, by the way, Trump and Melania have allegedly tested positive for the coronavirus. Soon enough, we'll find out whether or not Lady Karma is distributing a well-earned dose of belated justice to this most ignominious of pairs, or if it's another of DJT's desperate political ploys to sway, postpone or steal next month's election. In any case, "Equation To An Unknown" (Equation a un inconnu ), is a 1980 art/porn film directed by French painter, actor and cabaret owner, Dietrich de Velsa, a reclusive, mysterious figure who, under his real name (Francis Savel), worked with Joseph Losey on the mainstream films, "Monsieur Klein" and "Don ...
An unlikely but persistent memory of my childhood in the 60's is the provocative television ad for a now relatively-obscure Italian movie titled " Paranoia" . Soon coming to a theater-near-me, "Paranoia" presented itself as a sex-thriller starring Carroll Baker, a former Method actress-cum-sex goddess who'd recently abandoned an unloving Hollywood for career opportunities abroad. Rated X, the movie ad suggested all sorts of interesting perversities being explored onscreen by Baker and her two young co-stars and, although I knew I'd never see the actual film--even my open-minded dad had his limits--I was completely fascinated by the shocking images leaping from the TV screen in between episodes of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and "The Mod Squad". Cut to 2020, and the Severin Films restoration and release of the Carroll Baker/Umberto Lenzi collaborations in one glorious, blu-ray box-set. How could I not rush to purchase this unexp...
Self-consciously artsy and needlessly confusing, Portuguese film director Joao Pedro Rodrigues' "O Fantasma" is, nevertheless, a remarkably assured debut effort chronicling the psychological disintegration of a sexually obsessed young garbage collector living on the squalid fringes of turn-of-the-21st-Century Lisbon. Sergio is a rootless, carnal being, barely verbal, animalistic, and driven by impulses and urges that seem to spring more from instinct than intellect: it's telling that Sergio seems to prefer the company of his dog, whose actions he seems to mimic in his interactions with other humans. The few people Sergio actually does communicate with are co-workers with whom he maintains a tense, fragile bond that always seems to teeter on the edge of violence. When Sergio is on the job, he routinely sifts through other people's garbage, often finding masturbatory tokens (men's underwear, motorcycle gloves, a shiny, latex catsuit) for later gratification. Wh...
"Another Man's Poison" , director Irving Rapper's 1951 British melodrama features Bette Davis and then-husband, Gary Merrill in the second of three film appearances they made together, the first being "All About Eve", the third "Phone Call From a Stranger". Taken as a trio of siblings, with "Eve"as the brilliant, much-loved high achiever and "Stranger" the smart, slick youngster, "Poison" reinforces the stereotypical (if inaccurate) image of the problematic middle child. To be sure, "Another Man's Poison" has problems aplenty, none the least of which is the scatterbrained screenplay; it's hard to believe both Val Guest and esteemed dramatist Emlyn Williams (who also co-stars in this) had a hand in writing (and re-writing) this nonsense. Based on a play called "Deadlock" by Leslie Sands, the film feels stage-bound and often static, the majority of the action taking place in the main room of a...
So, it appears that I've been more than a little remiss in keeping up with this blog. I notice my last post occurred more than a year ago. Ye gods, time flies when you're..... Well, never mind. We all know what kind of year 2020 has been, although I really don't have an excuse for being MIA any time before March of this year. I fell down on the job. Let's leave it at that. Thankfully, as of this writing, neither C nor myself have come down with COVID-19, nor have any of our immediate families. While I can't say that all our friends have been so lucky, so far they're managing to hang in there. But, what a cluster fuck this has been! From the government's abject failure to adequately respond to this pandemic to the unspeakable selfishness of some Americans refusing to wear a mask to Trump's hourly assaults on democratic institutions, the news has been bleak. Adding fuel to the fire are the ongoing murders of unarmed civilians by police officers, and the la...