'LAST FREE DAY OF '26... EVERY NON-80's COMEDY! REVIEW MUST GO!' 155.- SHOUT AT THE DEVIL (UNITED KINGDOM, 1976, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on AMAZON PRIME, PLEX, PLUTO, TUBI, MGM+.
Blind-bought this Blu-ray cheap during a Barnes & Noble sale because I was intrigued by the pairing of Lee Marvin and Roger Moore as ivory poachers in early 20th century Africa. Imagine my surprise when I watched what turned out to be an EPIC (with a capital 'E') pre/post-early World War I tale of greed, family, duty to a higher call and, ultimately, the futility of revenge... with a broad comedic tone that contrasts with its pushing-hard-its-70's-PG-rating violence. The 007 production pedigree is strong with "Shout At the Devil." In addition to Sir Roger (in-between "Man With the Golden Gun" and "Spy Who Loved Me") and director Peter Hunt ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), most of the crew (cameramen Alec Mills and Alan Hume, 2nd unit director John Glenn, miniature maker Derek Medding, production designer Syd Cain, main title designer Maurice Binder, etc.) were veterans of many James Bond pictures. The more I see of them ("Gold," "The Wild Geese," etc.) the more I like Roger Moore's 70's and early 80's films when he wasn't wearing the 007 tuxedo. 🧐🥸
Marvin plays "Colonel" Flynn O'Flynn, a drunken Irish ivory poacher who recruits reluctant British aristocrat Sebastian Oldsmith (Moore, who actually delivers a stoic performance) to lead his Arab dhow [sail ship without engine or weapons] under the Union Jacket flag. But German Commander of the Southern Provinces Hermann Fleisher (René Kolldehoff, literally playing a mustache-twirling uber-baddie), who is obsessed with capturing Flynn, has a German warship ram the dhow and almost kill O'Flynn, Oldsmith and their African crew. The survivors reach Portugal, where Flynn's daughter Rosa (Barbara Parkins) has a home that Fleisher can't reach since it's across the border from his Zanzibar province. Sebastian and Rosa fall in love (to Flynn's dismay), have a baby girl and the men start poaching ivory in Zanzibar again... until WWI gives Fleisher the excuse to cross into Portugal and capture O'Flynn. Since he can't nab his hated foe, Fleisher hurts the ones the Irishman loves most (yep, the movie goes there! 😲😰). Hundreds of extras, big action set-pieces and two movie stars at the top of their game. It's so good you can almost forgive the African-on-African violence, Ian Holm playing a comic relief mute Arab and Sir Roger wearing black body paint to go undercover inside a German ship. Another gem I wouldn't have found without the Junesploitation! bump. 4.5 BIPLANES CRASH-LANDING ON A ROCKY BEACH (out of five).
Co-written and directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour (one of the few women directors in the Saudi Arabian Kingdom), "Unidentified" would stand on its own for being a nearly perfect 'PG-13' cinematic crime thriller about trying to find the murderer of a young teenage girl whose body is dumped in the desert. But it's impossible to ignore that protagonist Nawal (Mila Al Zahrani) is a divorced single mother obsessed with real life crime blogs on social media who, despite working for a local police precint, carries no legal authority or power to make witnesses/people who know what happened to the dead girl talk... because the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia requires Nawal to turn whatever she finds to a male officer, regardless of whether said officer cares enough about solving the crime to lift a finger. I'm being deliberately vague because "Unidentified" follows the structure of a well-known American movie I cannot mention or it'd spoil the denouement, which made me lead the slow golf clapping (which a few patrons in my theater joined in) during the credits. Enjoy the ride, the message and a Muslim female filmmaker willing to entertain with critique while not letting the seriousness get in the way of the fun. 4.20 SILVER HYUNDAI SEDANS JUST LIKE THE ONE MY SISTER OWNS (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 29! 157- THE PINK PANTHER 2 (2009, AMAZON PRIME). Also streaming on TUBI, ROKU CHANNEL, PLUTO, YOUTUBE.
The 11th and, to date, last "Pink Panther" theatrical movie. It's $76 million worldwide haul barely covered its $70 million budget, a more-than-50% drop from its predecessor. Was the presence of Beyoncé that big a deal in the prequel that her absence from this sequel sunk it? Were diehard 'Panther' fans really bothered by John Cleese taking Dreyfus' role over Kevin Kline? Did Shawn Levy handing directorial duties to Harald (2010 "Karate Kid" remake) Zwart really change things that much? I'm asking because, on this first rewatch in years and almost back-to-back with 2006's "Pink Panther," "Pink Panther 2" feels like a good-enough sequel. It's still aimed mostly at children (Jean Reno's character even brings his young boys to live with him at Clouseau's place), but takes time to stage some sensitivity training scenes between Clouseau (Steve Martin, still good) and Mrs. Berenger (Lily Tomlin) that are both funny but also confronts the sexism/racism that characterized the inspector's badly dated social norms in the old movies. Martin has slightly better chemistry with Cleese than he did with Kline, but the trio of Clouseau, Ponton and Nicole (Emily Mortimer, who has a ton more scenes/importance here than the prequel) are as solid as the old movies' Clouseau/Dreyfus/François triumvirate. 🤓
A new master thief called 'The Tornado' is stealing the most irreplaceable artifacts from European and Japanese museums, so a 'Dream Team' of international detectives converges on France to join Jacques Clouseau and try to prevent The Pink Panther diamond from being stolen again. Oops, never mind, the diamond is stolen again! 😂 Can the best minds from Italy (Andy Garcia), Japan (Kenji Mazuto), Great Britain (Alfred Molina), Clouseau and a female fact-finder (Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) solve the case and find the perpetrator before more artwork gets stolen? Decent premise, but again, the jokes and narrative feel too kiddie for a series that used to be targeted at grown-ups first, kids second. Jeremy Irons has a shirtless cameo (eh, yay?) and Clouseau-as-Pope shenanigans go well with a runaway museum firehose that doubles as landing support. 😜
ANIMATED INTRO OPENING: 4.20 'BLAKE EDWARDS' PARIS METRO STATIONS (out of five). Great use of classic artwork (Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's paintings, etc.) to tie the movie's plot with the animated opening credits, which show better integration of cast names ('Andy Garcia' in spiderweb pattern, etc.) and better use of 3D effects to enhance the 2D animation ('Steve Martin' name of a fingerprint). If there are to be no more PP movies with cartoon credit intros, "PP2" ends the tradition on a high note.
MOVIE RATING: 3.35 PONTON'S KARATE KIDS KICKING DOWN 'UNCLE CLOUSEAU'S' APARTMENT DOORS (out of five).
You know how "A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge" has a reputation for being a not-too-subtle metaphor for suppressed homosexuality? Australian horror import "Leviticus" makes the same-sex attraction between two teenage boys (Joe Bird's Naim and Stacy Clausen's Ryan) not just the text of "Leviticus," but the unintended instrument of death that puts them in danger. The rural Australian setting isn't just for show, but to showcase how the outdated idea of conversion therapy still can attract well-meaning-but-clueless parents to do more harm than good to their children. By forcing Naim and Ryan into a conversion ritual that materializes whatever each of them desires most (which for a teenager would be the person he/she crushes on the hardest), the parents are the unwitting executioners of their offspring's life... or are they really unwitting? 🫤🥵 Danny and Michael Philippou started an Aussie horror movement with "Talk To Me" that "Leviticus," though not as good as that 2022 horror classic, shares more than a passing resemblance to. Give it a shot, especially if you're looking for more positive LGBTQ representation in the genre. 3.85 EASY-TO-BURN-TO-THE-GROUND ABANDONED FACTORIES (out of five).
Work has finally let up and I'm catching up on some Junesploitation fun!
Falling Down (1993, dir. Joel Schumacher) Look, I typed in "90s action" into Netflix and this popped up. I liked it. A slightly inferior character study when compared to Heat, but it still has plenty to add to the cop v criminal dynamic. Boy, it REALLY paints a damning picture of America in the 90s....
Heat (1995, dir. Michael Mann) I mean, I had to. It's so good! ("She's got a great ass... and you got your head all the way up it")
Knowing (2009, dir. Alex Proyas) Patrick mentioned this a few weeks ago in his Disaster Movies column and I'm so on board with this movie. The plane sequence alone makes the movie, but I really dug the movie's commitment to its own concept. I mean, it really does the thing it sets out to do.
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'LAST FREE DAY OF '26... EVERY NON-80's COMEDY! REVIEW MUST GO!'
ReplyDelete155.- SHOUT AT THE DEVIL (UNITED KINGDOM, 1976, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on AMAZON PRIME, PLEX, PLUTO, TUBI, MGM+.
Blind-bought this Blu-ray cheap during a Barnes & Noble sale because I was intrigued by the pairing of Lee Marvin and Roger Moore as ivory poachers in early 20th century Africa. Imagine my surprise when I watched what turned out to be an EPIC (with a capital 'E') pre/post-early World War I tale of greed, family, duty to a higher call and, ultimately, the futility of revenge... with a broad comedic tone that contrasts with its pushing-hard-its-70's-PG-rating violence. The 007 production pedigree is strong with "Shout At the Devil." In addition to Sir Roger (in-between "Man With the Golden Gun" and "Spy Who Loved Me") and director Peter Hunt ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), most of the crew (cameramen Alec Mills and Alan Hume, 2nd unit director John Glenn, miniature maker Derek Medding, production designer Syd Cain, main title designer Maurice Binder, etc.) were veterans of many James Bond pictures. The more I see of them ("Gold," "The Wild Geese," etc.) the more I like Roger Moore's 70's and early 80's films when he wasn't wearing the 007 tuxedo. 🧐🥸
Marvin plays "Colonel" Flynn O'Flynn, a drunken Irish ivory poacher who recruits reluctant British aristocrat Sebastian Oldsmith (Moore, who actually delivers a stoic performance) to lead his Arab dhow [sail ship without engine or weapons] under the Union Jacket flag. But German Commander of the Southern Provinces Hermann Fleisher (René Kolldehoff, literally playing a mustache-twirling uber-baddie), who is obsessed with capturing Flynn, has a German warship ram the dhow and almost kill O'Flynn, Oldsmith and their African crew. The survivors reach Portugal, where Flynn's daughter Rosa (Barbara Parkins) has a home that Fleisher can't reach since it's across the border from his Zanzibar province. Sebastian and Rosa fall in love (to Flynn's dismay), have a baby girl and the men start poaching ivory in Zanzibar again... until WWI gives Fleisher the excuse to cross into Portugal and capture O'Flynn. Since he can't nab his hated foe, Fleisher hurts the ones the Irishman loves most (yep, the movie goes there! 😲😰). Hundreds of extras, big action set-pieces and two movie stars at the top of their game. It's so good you can almost forgive the African-on-African violence, Ian Holm playing a comic relief mute Arab and Sir Roger wearing black body paint to go undercover inside a German ship. Another gem I wouldn't have found without the Junesploitation! bump. 4.5 BIPLANES CRASH-LANDING ON A ROCKY BEACH (out of five).
156.- UNIDENTIFIED (SAUDI ARABIA, 2026, THEATER)
ReplyDeleteCo-written and directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour (one of the few women directors in the Saudi Arabian Kingdom), "Unidentified" would stand on its own for being a nearly perfect 'PG-13' cinematic crime thriller about trying to find the murderer of a young teenage girl whose body is dumped in the desert. But it's impossible to ignore that protagonist Nawal (Mila Al Zahrani) is a divorced single mother obsessed with real life crime blogs on social media who, despite working for a local police precint, carries no legal authority or power to make witnesses/people who know what happened to the dead girl talk... because the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia requires Nawal to turn whatever she finds to a male officer, regardless of whether said officer cares enough about solving the crime to lift a finger. I'm being deliberately vague because "Unidentified" follows the structure of a well-known American movie I cannot mention or it'd spoil the denouement, which made me lead the slow golf clapping (which a few patrons in my theater joined in) during the credits. Enjoy the ride, the message and a Muslim female filmmaker willing to entertain with critique while not letting the seriousness get in the way of the fun. 4.20 SILVER HYUNDAI SEDANS JUST LIKE THE ONE MY SISTER OWNS (out of five).
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 29!
ReplyDelete157- THE PINK PANTHER 2 (2009, AMAZON PRIME). Also streaming on TUBI, ROKU CHANNEL, PLUTO, YOUTUBE.
The 11th and, to date, last "Pink Panther" theatrical movie. It's $76 million worldwide haul barely covered its $70 million budget, a more-than-50% drop from its predecessor. Was the presence of Beyoncé that big a deal in the prequel that her absence from this sequel sunk it? Were diehard 'Panther' fans really bothered by John Cleese taking Dreyfus' role over Kevin Kline? Did Shawn Levy handing directorial duties to Harald (2010 "Karate Kid" remake) Zwart really change things that much? I'm asking because, on this first rewatch in years and almost back-to-back with 2006's "Pink Panther," "Pink Panther 2" feels like a good-enough sequel. It's still aimed mostly at children (Jean Reno's character even brings his young boys to live with him at Clouseau's place), but takes time to stage some sensitivity training scenes between Clouseau (Steve Martin, still good) and Mrs. Berenger (Lily Tomlin) that are both funny but also confronts the sexism/racism that characterized the inspector's badly dated social norms in the old movies. Martin has slightly better chemistry with Cleese than he did with Kline, but the trio of Clouseau, Ponton and Nicole (Emily Mortimer, who has a ton more scenes/importance here than the prequel) are as solid as the old movies' Clouseau/Dreyfus/François triumvirate. 🤓
A new master thief called 'The Tornado' is stealing the most irreplaceable artifacts from European and Japanese museums, so a 'Dream Team' of international detectives converges on France to join Jacques Clouseau and try to prevent The Pink Panther diamond from being stolen again. Oops, never mind, the diamond is stolen again! 😂 Can the best minds from Italy (Andy Garcia), Japan (Kenji Mazuto), Great Britain (Alfred Molina), Clouseau and a female fact-finder (Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) solve the case and find the perpetrator before more artwork gets stolen? Decent premise, but again, the jokes and narrative feel too kiddie for a series that used to be targeted at grown-ups first, kids second. Jeremy Irons has a shirtless cameo (eh, yay?) and Clouseau-as-Pope shenanigans go well with a runaway museum firehose that doubles as landing support. 😜
ANIMATED INTRO OPENING: 4.20 'BLAKE EDWARDS' PARIS METRO STATIONS (out of five). Great use of classic artwork (Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's paintings, etc.) to tie the movie's plot with the animated opening credits, which show better integration of cast names ('Andy Garcia' in spiderweb pattern, etc.) and better use of 3D effects to enhance the 2D animation ('Steve Martin' name of a fingerprint). If there are to be no more PP movies with cartoon credit intros, "PP2" ends the tradition on a high note.
MOVIE RATING: 3.35 PONTON'S KARATE KIDS KICKING DOWN 'UNCLE CLOUSEAU'S' APARTMENT DOORS (out of five).
158.- LEVITICUS (AUSTRALIA, '26, THEATER)
ReplyDeleteYou know how "A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge" has a reputation for being a not-too-subtle metaphor for suppressed homosexuality? Australian horror import "Leviticus" makes the same-sex attraction between two teenage boys (Joe Bird's Naim and Stacy Clausen's Ryan) not just the text of "Leviticus," but the unintended instrument of death that puts them in danger. The rural Australian setting isn't just for show, but to showcase how the outdated idea of conversion therapy still can attract well-meaning-but-clueless parents to do more harm than good to their children. By forcing Naim and Ryan into a conversion ritual that materializes whatever each of them desires most (which for a teenager would be the person he/she crushes on the hardest), the parents are the unwitting executioners of their offspring's life... or are they really unwitting? 🫤🥵 Danny and Michael Philippou started an Aussie horror movement with "Talk To Me" that "Leviticus," though not as good as that 2022 horror classic, shares more than a passing resemblance to. Give it a shot, especially if you're looking for more positive LGBTQ representation in the genre. 3.85 EASY-TO-BURN-TO-THE-GROUND ABANDONED FACTORIES (out of five).
Work has finally let up and I'm catching up on some Junesploitation fun!
ReplyDeleteFalling Down (1993, dir. Joel Schumacher)
Look, I typed in "90s action" into Netflix and this popped up. I liked it. A slightly inferior character study when compared to Heat, but it still has plenty to add to the cop v criminal dynamic. Boy, it REALLY paints a damning picture of America in the 90s....
Heat (1995, dir. Michael Mann)
I mean, I had to. It's so good! ("She's got a great ass... and you got your head all the way up it")
Knowing (2009, dir. Alex Proyas)
ReplyDeletePatrick mentioned this a few weeks ago in his Disaster Movies column and I'm so on board with this movie. The plane sequence alone makes the movie, but I really dug the movie's commitment to its own concept. I mean, it really does the thing it sets out to do.