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The Neptune Factor (1973)
Calling Jules Verne!
Underwater Oceanlab, being used as a base for Marine scientists doing oceanographic research in the Atlantic, is ripped from its moorings during an earthquake. Rugged sea adventure from screenwriter Jack DeWitt, commendably attempting a complicated rescue story without all that trendy '70s-disaster hype, is ultimately too bland and square to work with matinee audiences hoping for big suspense. The picture isn't completely waterlogged--there's some fantasy and wonderment in the second-half--but it isn't the "Poseidon"-like adventure 20th Century-Fox was probably banking on (it's much more like "Fantastic Voyage" minus the "Fantastic"). Retitled "The Neptune Disaster" for TV, this "all-star cast"--Ben Gazzara, Yvette Mimieux, Walter Pidgeon and Ernest Borgnine--look mostly nonplussed. The miniatures employed are so childlike they're rather a hoot, but serious sci-fi fans will only scoff. *1/2 from ****
Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
All work and no play makes Arthur Fleck a downtrodden man...
Co-writer and director Todd Phillips' follow-up to his 2019 hit presents the next logical step for Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck: he's been incarcerated for his crimes (five murders) at a rough Department of Corrections and is preparing to stand trial. There's no escape plan, no one is plotting to break Arthur out, and so DC Comics fans might be disappointed in Phillips' approach. There are problems: Fleck's mental competency is tested before his trial begins and it's an early dud scene; Arthur is so dreamily disconnected that the sequence doesn't come to mean much--he's declared fit to go to trial (incredibly) and we don't even see a flash of Joker. Arthur meets a young woman in the next ward who seems just as dazed as he does and they form a bond, but Arthur's lawyer tells him the truth about this girl, Harley Quinn: she's not a convicted arsonist as she claims, she's from a wealthy family (still living) and checked herself into Arkham State Hospital voluntarily. Phoenix has his first terrific scene quietly confronting "Lee" (Lady Gaga) over her intentions, but after some blithe answers she breaks into song. This is an example of what DC Comics fans won't like: the substitution of drama--and character content--with singing (usually classic pop songs, like The Carpenters' "Close to You", or showtunes). Quinn never quite emerges here as a fully-developed character, even though Gaga is good and her early scenes are promising. The song numbers are used as a fantasy release--and we need that--but they don't move us or amuse us while Phillips' plot is spinning around in a circle. Fleck's trial (televised, with the world watching) isolates the movie. The prison scenes have action and movement, but the courtroom set is pretty dull. When Fleck fires his attorney (Catherine Keener) and represents himself as Joker, there's a burst of excitement--but what happens? He cross-examines one witness, Mr. Puddles (Leigh Gill) and he rests his case. Phillips is saving his big surprise for the third act and, while it isn't the firecracker we're hoping for, at least it takes viewers outside where we can breathe. "Joker" has fine performances, it is structurally sound and takes place on "real" ground, but it has only snippets of pizzazz. **1/2 from ****
Joker (2019)
Just a whiff of satire in Scorsese-wannabe
Just out of a mental asylum and living with his mother in a seedy section of Gotham, rent-a-clown Arthur Fleck takes seven different medications a day for a neurological disorder and dreams of a life as a stand-up comedian. After being jumped by some kids on the street--and later on the subway by a pack of bullies--Arthur uses a gun loaned to him by a co-worker to fight back against our enraged, apathetic society...and just as quickly becomes a part of it. Fake-gritty, fake-thrilling character portrait leaves one feeling glumly anesthetized by its darkly theatrical pomp. There's a whiff of satire in the news coverage of Fleck's crimes--also with Robert De Niro as a Johnny Carson-like talk show host--but gaunt, drained Joaquin Phoenix is disappointing in the showy lead (a role that seems to bring out the inner-demon in every actor who plays it, only Phoenix's maniac highs ring mostly false). Another hit. Two Oscar wins: for Phoenix as Best Actor and for Hildur Guðnadóttir's original score. *1/2 from ****
The Man from Button Willow (1965)
Pleasant songs and familiar voices
Dale Robertson presents this modest animated western with songs from United Screen Arts about post-Civil War "land grabbers" in 1860s California buying up all the property cheap before the government can use it to connect the East-to-West railroad, including land wrestled from innocent Settlers. The government, having sent out a senator to investigate the dirty doings, hires a bucolic trouble-shooter (voiced by Robertson) to come to the rescue after the senator disappears. Potentially interesting idea from writer-director David Detiege (who allegedly had a great deal of uncredited help) is loaded down with 'cute' asides to hold the attention of matinee audiences, such as a newborn colt saved from a mountain lion by a dog and a skunk, also a Chinese orphan girl named Stormy (voiced by Barbara Jean Wong) who talks and prays in pidgin English. The songs (worked on by an uncredited Henry Mancini) are pleasant, as are the familiar voices of Verna Felton, Edgar Buchanan and Ross Martin; the plot, however, is never given much of a chance to emerge. *1/2 from ****
Paper Man (1971)
Cautionary tale with thriller aspirations...
College students take advantage of a mistakenly-printed bank credit card, creating a false person via the university computer and stocking up on expensive goodies (like a fancy chess set!). Teleplay by James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin about the misuse of credit and modern technology has an interesting set-up but not much follow-through. The students are usurped by their own creation (ho hum), and yet these 'kids' (Dean Stockwell, Stefanie Powers and James Stacy) look too old to still be cracking the books. TV effort was considered good enough by Fox to briefly receive a theatrical run. * from ****
The Next Best Thing (2000)
An absolute disaster...
The folly of best-laid plans. Single-gal Madonna has a whoopsie moment with gay pal Rupert Everett and soon finds she's pregnant; they agree to raise the baby together, but who gets custody of the kid once she falls for heterosexual Benjamin Bratt? Comedy-drama from director John Schlesinger (!) blunders its every opportunity for honest emotions; it isn't even logical that Madonna's Abbie would be happier with Bratt than with Everett. But, as with most of these romcoms, logic doesn't enter the picture. Meanwhile, screenwriter Tom Ropelewski is all-too-ready with one of those dreaded "dramatic agendas" they teach in film school; he can't wait to get his now-fussing friends into the courtroom. What a snooze. NO STARS from ****
Hail, Hero! (1969)
Not hardly convincing, but young Douglas almost overcomes the clichés...
Fresh-faced Michael Douglas struts through his movie debut in this adaptation of John Weston's novel about a young man with long hair (i.e., anti-Establishment)--just out of jail for protesting the war--who returns to the family farm (and the brother who hates him) to say goodbye before reporting for service in the Army. He's hoping to stop the fighting overseas with love, but learns he has a temper and, with a weapon in his hand, is capable of violence. Opening scene with Douglas playing toreador with a truck filled with crop-pickers sets the artificial tone (the Mexicans cheer his bravado and offer Douglas a ride into town). Jerome Moross' saccharine score underlines every scene with sentimental remembrances, while young Douglas is often called upon to fill the vacuum by talking to himself, to a stuffed cougar head, and to his grandfather's headstone (not that old one again!). Gordon Lightfoot sings the title track and the catchy "Wherefore and Why". ** from ****
Megalopolis (2024)
All that glitters isn't gold...
Writer-producer-director Francis Ford Coppola's opulent but obvious sociological study of greed, murder, corruption, sexual manipulation (usually male-female, though there are some lesbian overtones early on), and power in the futuristic utopian city of New Rome (modeled after New York City). The mayor (Giancarlo Esposito ) clashes with Cesar, the Chairman of the Design Authority (Adam Driver) over a particular building material that can change the world. Meanwhile, the mayor's daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel) has dropped out of med school and become involved in a tabloid scandal; she's smitten with the architect after seeing him perform his super-power--stopping time--and takes a meeting with him (she has sent him a nasty letter and asks for it back in a replay from a scene in "The Red Shoes"). There's also Cesar's uncle (Jon Voight, perhaps doing a Donald Trump) who is the president of the bank; he marries a fame-hungry, gold-digging TV tabloid reporter who was involved with Cesar, goaded on by Cesar's cousin (Shia LaBeouf) who has his nose in everybody's business. The picture looks great, but only in snippets; the rest of the time, we're stuck with these people who are a mostly boring lot (none more so than Driver, who continues to look like an abused Basset Hound). There's a fancy effects collage near the end that really looks splendid, plus a finishing touch that is at once perplexing and amusing, but Coppola doesn't have the knack any longer for interwoven character plots. "Megalopolis" is megalomania at its most expensive (reportedly $120M), but interest here will be from film students and Coppola-buffs, not from mainstream audiences. *1/2 from ****
The Candy Tangerine Man (1975)
Crummy blaxploitation, though Daniels has star presence...
John Daniels was one of the near-misses of blaxploitation cinema; the handsome amateur actor had the screen presence, yet his brief resume is clogged with C-minus material like "The Candy Tangerine Man". Hollywood pimp The Baron ushers his girls around the city streets at night in his candy-colored 1952 Bentley (complete with automatic shotguns underneath the parking lights). Business is tough, even for this ultra laid-back, casual guy: his "family" appears to continually hold out on him financially; one of his ladies is being harassed by blood-thirsty goons; and his competition (in league with Italian Mafiosos) is trying to have him rubbed out. The twist to the "plot" (given away in the lyrics to the opening song) is that The Baron is really a suburban husband and father to an unsuspecting wife and kids. Produced and directed by Matt Cimber, this disposable low-budgeter is actually better than expected, with full attention given to Daniels' performance (it's a non-performance, really, but Daniels holds the screen with such blithe nonchalance he stands out simply by underplaying). The actor, who would go on to star in "Black Shampoo" and produce the female R&B act the Love Machine, has the strong physique of a Fred Williamson and the low-key charm of a Richard Roundtree, but bigger-and-better offerings were not in the cards. This one is outrageous enough to garner some laughs, and Smoke delivers a groovy soundtrack, but all of the women (and most of the men) look used-up, giving the picture a crummy feel. *1/2 from ****
Beauty and the Beast (1976)
Chatty but not enchanting
Widower with three grown daughters (two of them selfish and shrill, the third a noble beauty), finds himself lost in the Great Forest before coming upon a castle where his benefactor offers him food and shelter but "let nothing take away". Before leaving, the elderly man cuts a rose from the garden for his third daughter, and is condemned to die by the castle's king, The Beast--that is, until beautiful Belle offers the ogre herself in her father's place. Well-intentioned (one presumes) Hallmark Hall of Fame Production for television is chatty but not enchanting, matter-of-fact in place of magical. Ron Goodwin's score sounds like majestic carousel music, while stars George C. Scott and real-life wife Trish Van Devere seem overly-rehearsed and almost indifferent to the material (whimsy doesn't come to Scott easily). The oft-told 18th century fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont comes ready-made for some romantic sequences, but no one involved is able to put a tantalizing spin on this production. *1/2 from ****
Will & Harper (2024)
The definition of friendship
Documentary via Netflix has actor/comedian Will Ferrell setting out on a cross-country trip by car with one of his longest friends, the former Andrew Steele, an Emmy-winning writer for "Saturday Night Live" who is now a transgender named Harper Steele. Harper, an aficionado of road trips, is 61-years-old and divorced with two children; she hasn't had bottom-half surgery yet (and has no immediate plans to), but is venturing out into the world for the first time since the pandemic as a female. Ferrell stands by his friend and, if he was thrown for a loop by Harper's emailed revelation, he doesn't show it (he's more concerned than rattled). Say what you will about Ferrell but he's a bold, sassy guy and, when he asks questions of his pal out of plain curiosity, he's also very likable and down-to-earth--the perfect road companion. This moving, funny journey is quite brilliantly filmed by director Josh Greenbaum and cinematographer Zoë White--it's such an intimate film, I wasn't aware of the camera. The US states the duo visit are not where you would normally think to go to find the transgendered or their supporters, and yet friendly strangers open their hearts to Harper (except for a few in the shadows, tweeting hateful things online, and at a Texas steakhouse where the mood quickly turns quietly hostile). Celebrity friends pop up, and it's nice to see them (and hear them: Kristen Wiig composed and performs a nifty end-credits theme song); however, the real stars are Will and Harper. Ferrell, a surprising softie, is simply *there* when he's needed, humorously using his celebrity as the buffer in the room when the atmosphere doesn't feel safe. These two friends are the epitome of besties. *** from ****
Marriage Story (2019)
Thoughtful and ultimately moving examination of an unraveled marriage...
Marital woes from writer-director Noah Baumbach concerns off-Broadway theatre company director in New York City (Adam Driver) and his actress-wife (Scarlett Johansson) who separate just as she's getting her film career going again on the West Coast, taking their young son with her and establishing residency in California. Once she consults with a lawyer, what was a reasonably amicable impending divorce suddenly becomes swallowed up in legalese. Driver and Johansson look almost too much alike; they brood in much the same way and, when their characters feel beaten down, both actors share the same hangdog look. It takes a little while to feel for them as a couple (in happy moments or in despair), but a confrontation scene after a bruising day in court shows off both stars to a strong advantage. Laura Dern, as Johansson's glamorous-but-tough lawyer, is at the top of her game here, although her first consultation session with her client is far too long and brings the picture to a halt (the capper is funny, but it can't save the scene). Better are Driver's meetings with his lawyers (pugilistic Ray Liotta, followed by quirky Alan Alda). Some of Baumbach's dialogue is thick and abstruse and doesn't play (when Johansson is talking about the "dead space" inside her that became "less dead" when she first met her husband, one can almost hear a character from Woody Allen's chamber dramas speaking). Nevertheless, if a marriage-based piece such as this genuinely moves an audience by its final scene--as this one most certainly does--that means everyone involved did the material justice. **1/2 from ****
The First Omen (2024)
Prequel to 1976's "The Omen" hopes we're still asking, "Who birthed Damien?"
"The First Omen" is better-made than it has any right to be; but, as good as the picture looks, this demonic horror is so derivative, confused and downright stupid, it's hard to imagine audiences doing anything other than laughing at it. Orphaned American novice with "a vivid imagination" (Nell Tiger Free) is invited to take her vows in Rome, but finds the religious order and orphanage a sinister place. Turns out the church harbors a cult trying to produce a male Antichrist--in order to bring people back to the church!--by mating girls with a demonic jackal. They keep coming up short, however: several female infants have perished, supposedly malformed. Director Arkasha Stevenson has seen a lot of movies and pays homage to (or rather, steals from) quite a list: "Agnes of God", "Suspiria", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Ring", "Signs"...maybe even "Bedazzled" and "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark"! It's a terrible picture, though one that looks exceptionally handsome as photographed by Aaron Morton and with some interesting soundtrack choices. * from ****
The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
Pretty good witchcraft thriller...strong stuff up until the final act
Witchcraft hysteria consumes a 17th-century parish in rural England, with the teenagers of the village under the spell of a Satanic beast. Extremely well-made, well-photographed yarn from Britain's Tigon Pictures has a slipshod narrative and repetitive scenes set in and around a judge's farmhouse, but is otherwise quite creepy. Cinematographer Dick Bush creates a mist-enshrouded atmosphere of mud and twigs and blood that is heightened by Marc Wilkinson's spectacular score. There's not a pleasant moment to be had--and the lack of light relief does make itself felt--yet it's quite a successful shocker just up to the finale, where it falls apart. **1/2 from ****
Apartment 7A (2024)
Handsome production, illogical story...though curiosity factor is high
When I first read about a prequel to "Rosemary's Baby" from Paramount+, I naturally assumed it would be about Rosemary's humble beginnings before she came to New York City and met Hutch and future-husband Guy Woodhouse. But no, writers Natalie Erika James (who also directed), Christian White and Skylar James, working from Skylar's original treatment, have chosen instead to tell the story of Terry Gionoffrio, the Castevet's first choice to bear the child of Satan. Make no mistake, there's promise in that narrative--and the picture, shot mainly in the UK, looks pretty terrific--but making Terry a dancer with dreams of Broadway stardom presents a plot wrinkle: why would the Castevets "cure" Terry's busted ankle and arrange for her to get the lead in a new musical if she's three months pregnant? (Terry is already falling apart in dress rehearsal!) There was nothing in Ira Levin's original novel (nor Roman Polanski's 1968 film) to suggest that Terry was anything more than a reformed drug addict taken in off the street by Minnie and Roman. This Terry (played somewhat insufferably by a withdrawn, red-eyed Julia Garner) is more like the heroine in "Suspiria", discovering shocks around every corridor. Director James goes big on shock cuts and fake-out dreams, presumably because there was nothing in her own script she could work with to honestly drum up scares. Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally are marvelous as the Castevets, but why do they give Terry her own apartment? Wouldn't they want to keep an eye on her? Terry initially sleeps in Minnie's guest room, prompting Minnie to say, "What good is a guest room without a guest to put in it?" Having Terry in her own place is likely meant to pattern this movie after "Rosemary's Baby" (discovering a secret passageway and all that), but it doesn't benefit the Castevets in any way separating Terry from them--and it doesn't jibe with Levin's premise that the girl lived together with the old couple and suspected nothing unusual. There's a wild finale--with a silly dance done by Garner that goes on a bit too long--though I liked the pay-off. But this presents another problem: if the baby is controlling her and won't allow Terry to abort it or stab it, couldn't it prevent her from other ways of self-harm? The dance Terry does is meant to distract the devil worshippers--but can you distract the devil? ** from ****
Ivy (1947)
Minor but entertaining Universal meller...
In gaslight London, scheming young woman with both a husband and a secret lover sets her sights on a wealthy older man. According to a fortune teller, there's money to be had if she dumps the lover, but this presents a problem when the smitten man refuses to give her up. Tidy, well-wrought melodrama written by Charles Bennett from the book "The Story of Ivy" by Marie Belloc Lowndes offers Joan Fontaine another juicy role; she's quite good when juggling the affections of her three men, less so when she feigns grieving and takes to her bed. Universal production is stylish--perhaps too stylish. With little-to-no money, Fontaine's Ivy manages to dress exquisitely and mix with the cream of the crop. Of the male roles, Herbert Marshall's millionaire is the most interesting: a fair and decent man, he almost succumbs to Fontaine's charms but stops himself because "I've always believed the most despicable thing a man can do is make love to another man's wife." Director Sam Wood was a nominee at Cannes for Best Feature Film. **1/2 from ****
Perfect Friday (1970)
Not a complete success, but frisky and entertaining...
Highly entertaining heist comedy has a frisky edge and a wonderful collection of characters. Assistant bank manger in London's West End arranges a loan for a flirtatious blonde, later formulating a scheme to rob his own branch with her help and that of her husband, a shifty Lord who lives beyond his means. Teaming of Stanley Baker (never better), Ursula Andress and David Warner a winning combination. Andress--usually dressing, undressing or completely undressed--is a charming nudie-cutie, while director Peter Hall stages the trio's complicated plot with hairbreadth timing. Disappointing finish but...that's the way it goes sometimes when you're a divine b*st*rd. *** from ****
Sole Survivor (1984)
Derivative low-budget horror, but with good acting from no-name cast
Low-budget, independently-produced horror has an interesting set-up: young woman is the only person to survive a plane crash; she seems fine in the hospital--even flirting with her doctor--but soon begins hearing a voice calling her name and seeing ghostly strangers in her path. Her doctor thinks she has survivor's guilt, but then people start turning up dead. Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt (who filmed the movie in Tustin, CA without permits), "Sole Survivor" was inspired by 1962's "Carnival of Souls" but, after about 45mns, the picture becomes a zombie slasher, instead looking more like 1974's "Messiah of Evil". It doesn't quite hang together, but pithy Anita Skinner is natural and funny in the lead. Caren Larkey (who plays the once-famous "beach party actress") was also one of the producers. ** from ****
Ironside: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Murder (1972)
Terrific guests, a slack script, and sleepy Burr just rolling along...
S05-E21 of the eight-season crime-drama starring Raymond Burr in his second most-famous TV role. He's wheelchair-bound Robert T. Ironside, a San Francisco consultant to the police paralyzed after being shot, here investigating the case of a murdered apartment building owner who was killed soon after yelling at some kids playing down in the basement. We meet just two of the children involved: a mentally-challenged young man who helps out in the building with odd jobs and Jodie Foster as a pre-teen into witchcraft (!). Foster explains to "Uncle Bob" that she's a white witch, but that she wished the building owner dead after he yelled at her and now feels guilty for what happened. Other guests in this episode include veteran character actor Milton Selzer, John Schuck (doing fine work), and Rod Serling (with a mustache and Van Dyke beard) as the co-owner of a neighborhood occult shop. Written by Sy Salkowitz and directed by Christian I. Nyby II, this episode would be a complete miss were it not for the famous faces involved. Foster is so young she doesn't even sound like herself, but she's still as confident a child performer as ever (except for the finale when she kisses Burr on the lips--and then wipes her mouth!). The murder case isn't at all involving or surprising, though the basic witchcraft techniques (lighting candles, spreading salt, chanting spells) are bizarre with a little girl at the helm. Lee Paul--another acting veteran in his first of four "Ironside" appearances--plays backward Billy with care, but sleepy Burr is just rolling along, phoning his performance in. Paging Della Street!
The Substance (2024)
"You can't escape from yourself..."
Upon learning she's being dumped from her weekly TV fitness program, aging Hollywood actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is ready to try anything to get her youth and beauty back. She learns of a new, semi-secret program which promises the answer, "a better version of yourself" in the form of a cell-replicating liquid substance. When injected into the bloodstream, the substance produces (or rather, births) a younger version of the user--a curvaceous, wrinkle-free, buttocks-tight doppelgänger. There's just one catch: the user and the copy have to trade off their weeks of living on a strict seven-day schedule...with no exceptions. Perhaps taking her cue from 1988's "The Rejuvenator" (which in turn took its cue from 1959's "The Wasp Woman"), writer-director Coralie Fargeat has come up with a body-image horror story for the age-conscious 2020s. Fargeat, who appears to have been raised on David Cronenberg and John Carpenter movies, has the germ of a good idea here--and she's not without an over-the-top, cartoony sense of humor--but she's gross out-oriented instead of clever. As a result, "The Substance" is flashy and empty-headed, a splatter-flick designed to warn us *and* turn our stomachs. Moore and Margaret Qualley take some real chances here as actresses (Moore in particular); but, with limbs turning brown, teeth falling out, and blood dripping and spurting and spraying everywhere, this is not exactly a movie to show off your skills. *1/2 from ****
Margaret (2011)
It's an amazing movie, but is it a good movie?
Writer-director (and co-star) Kenneth Lonergan's ode to urban anxiety. Rarely have I seen such a combative film, with a quick-tempered, belligerent main character named Lisa (Anna Paquin) who turns every conversation into an argument. A high school student on New York City's West Side, the daughter of an actress who is raising her two kids as a single parent, tries waiving down the driver of a city bus in motion; she likes his cowboy hat, he's amused by her apparent flirtation, and then tragedy happens: he blows through a red light, hitting a woman in the crosswalk. Lying to the police out of guilt, anxiety and shock, Lisa initially wants to spare the bus driver any additional grief, but she's soon overcome by responsibility and wants the truth to come out (especially after she arrives at the bus driver's home uninvited and immediately goes off the rails). That's the crux of the story, but Lonergan introduces many other characters into the mix, some of them very interesting (like Jean Reno's Cuban romanticist and fan of the girl's mother). Unfortunately, these side-plots elongated Lonergan's final cut to nearly three hours, causing Fox Searchlight to balk at a 2007 release. It took four years (and the help of Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker) to get the picture down to 150mns, though the film still feels overworked from an editing standpoint, with some scenes lasting five seconds or less. The ensemble cast is good, though these people are a mercurial lot: each individual scene seems to have been conceived as a battle, leaving viewers tied up in knots. It's easy to see what should have been cut: Lisa's request to a bad boy student (Kieran Culkin) to take her virginity, Lisa seducing one of her teachers (Matt Damon), Lisa stopping that teacher outside the school and telling him she had an abortion, plus two trips to the Met to hear opera. However, what's here is still intriguing, and Paquin walks an acting high-wire as Lisa (the 'Margaret' of the title is referenced in a poem read in Lisa's classroom). The actress (who looks college-age, but let it pass) has some amazing moments of youthful (and angry!) conviction; she's so full of impassioned rage she's likely to be a turn-off for the audience, but it is superlative work from an actor's position. Also good (and a nice surprise): Jeannie Berlin as the bus victim's best friend; she's also ready to explode, but Berlin never goes over-the-top--she seethes instead, her eyes like slits and her mouth tight. Lonergan wants us to be uncomfortable watching this story unfold. He wants the situation to be turbulent and uneasy, and this is acutely felt. It is not Lonergan's "Cassavetes movie", though it can sometimes feel free-flowing (Cassavetes would never go for all this hostile fury, so readily displayed--he also cracked a smile every now and then). "Margaret" is an amazing movie, but is it a good one? Personal taste will have to determine that. **1/2 from ****
The Affair (1973)
Not a great dramatic vehicle for either Wood or Wagner, but she excels in a handful of scenes
32-year-old lady songwriter, on crutches due to polio, begins an affair with a divorced lawyer with two young boys, but she's on her guard (he tells her "I love you" to which she replies, "I know...thank you"). Aaron Spelling-Leonard Goldberg movie-of-the-week gently exploits the reunited Hollywood couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, who had just married for the second time. This is a cordial, polite and sensitive love affair with the usual self-doubts and complications of a new relationship, presented in soft focus. Still, knowing how this union turned out in real life tends to mar one's enjoyment. Wood does well in a handful of dramatic scenes, but when Wagner searches his soul and his conscience it does nothing but make us uneasy. ** from ****
Operazione paura (1966)
It could have used stronger characterization and less ritzy accoutrement
Italian horror film from director Mario Bava is so full of showmanship (rich color photography, incredible sets, an excitable camera, and the spooky ghost of a laughing/pouting child) that several directors have claimed it an influence and many genre fans have deemed it a masterpiece. It might have been, perhaps, with a less ritzy script. Residents of a Carpathian village in the 1900s believe they are under a curse; seems a 7-year-old child was trampled by horses after a festival and bled to death while trying to ring the church bell for help. Using her dotty mother as a medium, the child's ghost avenges her death by compelling those who have wronged her into taking their own lives. Certainly worth a look for several stunning set-pieces, such as an endless room and a dizzying spiral staircase; but the characters don't merit much interest, and the eerie accoutrements are just that: atmosphere. **1/2 from ****
Sette note in nero (1977)
Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes
Jennifer O'Neill plays a newly-married woman in Italy who has been having psychic visions since she was a child--when she 'saw' her mother commit suicide in a fall. Her latest troubling vision includes such details as a broken mirror, a bloody face, a limping man, a flashing red light, a cigarette, a magazine, and an older woman being sealed up behind a wall in a red room--maybe the same room she finds in an old country manor owned by her disbelieving husband. Creepy Italian thriller from co-writer and director Lucio Fulci is well-done and enjoyably spooky, featuring a music score from Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera that is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino's. O'Neill, attractive but not usually a strong actress, does just fine here. **1/2 from ****
English Teacher (2024)
First three episodes very promising!
Brian Jordan Alvarez, probably best known for playing Estefan on "Will & Grace", stars in this cable comedy he created and executive produces for FX Network and distributed by Disney+ and Hulu. Playing a gay English teacher at an Austin, Texas high school, Alvarez's Evan Marquez is just out of a relationship with a fellow teacher whom he once kissed in front of students. In the pilot, the mother of one of the kids is trying to get Evan fired for "turning her son gay". It's a ridiculous argument, of course (and we never meet the mom in question), but these type of news items in real-life *are* exasperating and ridiculous, so the situation never feels too silly. In the second episode, "Powderpuff", Evan is asked by the football team to help them with their drag performance while cheerleaders take the field as players. It's over-the-top TV for Evan to bring in a seasoned drag performer to help the boys (and for the guys to respond), and equally preposterous for said drag queen to turn out to be a thief, but the side-plot with the football coach (Sean Patton) getting schooled on girl's self-defense by teacher Gwen Sanders (Stephanie Koenig, who wrote this installment) is very funny. In the third episode, Evan is partnered on the decorating committee for Homecoming with a new teacher whom Evan feels is gay and hot for him (and this after he's been ordered not to date any more co-workers). The subplot about a student pretending to have a made-up disease doesn't really come off--the kids are really unappealing in this episode--and the start-and-stop flirting between Evan and the horse-hung new teacher hits an early wall. Still, this is a very fresh, bright new show and the humor here--witty, very dry, quick and offhand--is delivered expertly by Alvarez and his cast.