Reviews

This seemingly forgotten and generally unavailable film withstands the years as a war film involving a British crew captained by Edward Judd aboard a captured German sub, their mission to infiltrate a German submarine "wolf pack" and give HQ its coordinates. The story emits echoes of how a captured U-boat enabled the British to crack the Enigma code, and seems realistic in showing how such a boat works and how its crew reacts under stress. The film was down with the cooperation of the Royal Navy and uses documentary footage of a depth charge attack. All told, a neat 90 minutes of storytelling.

This film isn't, of course, to be taken seriously. But it is fun, with Knotts the editor of a bankrupt ornithology magazine who, by misadventure, becomes the guiding light in an adult entertainment empire aimed at bird-watching of another sort. Other actors such as Edmond O'Brien, Ann Francis, and James Gregory do well with their roles, the latter especially amusing as a defense lawyer who both defends and decries the hapless Knotts in his trial as a purveyor of obscenity. His use of hyperbole and exaggeration work well in context. This film, doubtless criticized upon its release by those who wanted the old Knotts back again and others who doubted the humour of his on-screen predicament, is probably even funnier now than then.

I just watched the entire first season on DVD this weekend it literally made my day: great acting and characters, the location captured. I can state the latter because I first visited Manhattan in 1977 and spent a bit of time (as an onlooker) in the Times Square area, then full of adult stores and theatres, one of which I entered to see a cut version of "Deep Throat." Most memorably, I saw a beautiful blonde, neatly-dressed, standing in the Square with the universal symbol of her trade, the red umbrella. Anyway, this series is obviously well-researched, Maggie Gyllenhall is excellent and credible, and it does show that adult industry personnel are (often vulnerable) people who are despised for selling what the public wants but won't admit it does.

This unusual film mixes the dreamlike with the gritty: a young college student, Mary-Anne is cruelly raped and, after trying to purge herself by taking a bath (washing/showering is a common first reaction among rape victims), finds herself unable to articulate or cope with the experience, instead losing interest in her studies and unable to communicate with her fussy, rather difficult mother. She abruptly leaves home, rents a slummy room and takes a dull job where she is disliked for her aloofness (she cannot stand to be touched, another reaction common to rape victims). She becomes suicidal and, about to walk off a bridge into water, is "rescued" by a mechanic (Ralph Meeker), who offers her shelter then keeps her prisoner in his pokey flat. Eventually she escapes, seems to come to a compromise with her violent experience, and re-starts her life in a a peculiar way in keeping with the film's overall tone. There is effective technique here: Mary-Anne's anxiety after her attack is filmed in a dream-like, perhaps surrealistic way as, scared and alienated, she wanders New York's streets ( the shots of the city c. 1961 are interesting); one can feel her pain and alienation. Though the film is not obviously educational, thankfully there are now rape crisis centres for victims such as Mary-Anne. Note: a pre-Edith Bunker Jean Stapleton has a small, memorable part as Mary-Anne's hoydenish neighbour in her rooming house.

This work is a disaster film with a difference: masses of people struck by a mysterious "sudden death" syndrome while others are left living to face the apocalypse predicted by the Book of Revelations. During this ordeal, a group of young friends - one of them about to be wed - are forced to survive a nightmarish situation while examining their feelings for each other, in a church, then a hospital, then an emergency shelter. Most of them don't survive, and the ending, as vast Biblical loci descend from the sky toward the emergency camp, is ambiguous as to who will survive. This film is fairly well-done; it's special effects effective, the chaos well-conveyed via hand-held camera. The characters were not original but believable. What made me queasy was the the apocalypse itself. Horror is visited upon people who aren't actually sinners, but simply lax in their beliefs (one character, a doubting pastor, says those who were initially struck dead were mankind's purest). This apocalypse, it seems, pushes those doubting or indifferent to faith toward belief, a "white light" representing God. But they were good people whatever and hardly responsible for blasphemy or evil. The film doesn't show bad or dubious people being punished; thus, the punishment doesn't fit the "crime." Of course, it's realistic even in this film's context to remind one it's always the little people who suffer the worst.

This series is fulfilling its promise after a weak first episode. Picasso's shifting from older to younger self within one hour works fairly well, as do the dynamics of his relationships with women, especially his difficult affairs with Fernande, Dora, and the others. Fernande's remaining with her oppressor (before being "rescued" via opium by Picasso) is believable given human nature and her own strained circumstances. Apollinaire is well-played, as is Max Jacob. Believable if not too honorable is Picasso's reluctance to sign a petition calling for Jacob's release from the Nazis: Picasso didn't want to (further) endanger his position as a great artist by Nazi persecution himself. It was a cowardice, but one not so easy to judge given circumstances. I await further episodes with interest.

I only caught the last half of this film early this a.m. on a Quebec TV station (ARTV), but it interested immediately: the characters were well and realistically-played, the subject (doping, competitive sports) timely. The bicycle race in Belgium was effective, capturing the intensity of such events. That the central character comes up from behind to win gives a minor thrill, which is snuffed out when she is revealed before her celebrant teammates and others as having triumphed unfairly. The character may not be sympathetic, but she is realistic. As for her going to bed with her married coach: he eventually mentions divorcing his wife, and the film is from Quebec, where they don't judge these things quite so harshly.

This film, shot on Costa Rica's lovely Atlantic coast, depicts an Afro-Rican (?) fishing community whose ethnic base derives from English Caribbean workers who had come to Costa Rica to work in its fruit industry. The older generation still speaks (accented)English, and an evangelical church holds English-language services for a small congregation. This beautiful area does contain a danger element: drug smugglers use its waters as part of their supply chain. The film involves a fledgling soccer player who is encouraged in his ambition by his older brother, himself in debt to thugs, and a Frenchman seeking solace at one of the area's eco-resorts. He also keeps a rather mysterious cache of money beneath his bed. That suitcase, and its owner, disappear (perhaps accidentally, perhaps not) while he is swimming in the ocean. Both events upset the community. This gently-paced film has a subtle, realistic view of human relationships, which, along with lovely shots of the "Tican" rain forest, makes it definitely worth a viewer's while.

I remember seeing this film in a theatre when young, and recently re-viewed it on DVD. It must be one of the best of that era's x-rated output:good photography and music (including a canned, and appropriate, version of Dylan's "Lay, Lady Lay"), effective script and performances, and some well-shot sex scenes including a particularly good one when Bovee and her mentor, Claudette, do a twosome for a curious but yellow type (Richard Bolla)who also likes being smacked.There are some good shots of New York in the 70s (which must have been filmed on the sly)and a fairly realistic ending, with death all around for escort Bovee and drug-dealer Jamie Gillis.

....that shows a young woman's love and sex life from adolescence to experimentation (eg gay and/or group sex) to motherhood. Her relationships involve a variety of types of men and women, and sometimes start well, but never last. It isn't until she meets an artistic type who is diagnosed with cancer that she achieves emotional stability. That this is a Russian opus is interesting as films from that country are not widely seen. It is nice to see positive output from a country that receives much negative press, often to the detriment of the diverse (ie artistic) population there. Perhaps this filmmaker will be famous someday.

This film, which I saw last night in Ottawa, Canada, is a well-plotted, well made, even topical horror film perfect for the digital age. It tells of of Kylie, an attractive university (or college)student in N. Carolina working her way through school through on-line sex work viewable by and with input from males worldwide. This is quite realistic (e.g. the controversial Belle Knox), as (basically) is one of her more ardent fans, an isolated, overweight computer geek with woman issues. When that violence-prone type feels shunned and scorned by Kylie and her co-workers, he uses his IT knowledge and his strength to trap and kill his "tormenters." The violence becomes bloody and brutal, but done with style and with believable reactions from the film's characters. I recommend this film not only for its (no pun) execution, but for nice female curves as well.