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LXXXIII: Boy Culture (Q. Allan Brocka, 2006)
Love triangle, uh, rhomboid, uh, pentagon. Love cross. X (Derek Magyar) is a male prostitute in love with the house mate, Andrew, who is meant to disguise his source of income. Whilst X struggles with whether he can allow himself to fall in love, he sees a new elderly client, Gregory Talbot (Patrick Bauchau, from Carnivale), who spins him a story of fifty years of desire. Actually quite nicely shot if not quite thought through, with too many threads not quite sewn back in, and it's unclear whether X is a mystery blogger or talking to a film audience.
LXXXIV: Lord of War (Andrew Niccol, 2005)
Atypical mainstream film from the man behind GATTACA, S1M0NE and The Truman Show. Nicholas Cage is a gun salesman supplying whomever will pay - which clearly has to be his brother (Jared Leto) because, hey, that's the genre. There's clearly an anti-gun message - which is aimed squarely at the arms trade of the US, UK, France, Russia and China - but you can't help but cheer for Cage (even post 8mm). The film rather criminally underuses Ian Holm and (to a lesser extent) Ethan Hawke, and has to do a bit of handwaving to allow the action to move away from Cage's character. Worth a look - even if it's rather like it's an antiglacier movie.
LXXXV: The Bunker (Rob Green, 2001)
Tidy little British horror flick with a very young thingie from Primaeval, and a little over determined. A retreating German army troupe find an all but abandoned bunker as they wait for the Americans to attack. Unfortunately the bunker is haunted by medieval spirits - and the squadron has its own dark secrets. A virtual who's that? of British tv actor - Jack Davenport, Jason Flemyng, Eddie Marsden,Andrew Lee Potts, Charlie Boorman.
LXXXVI: Julie and Julia (Nora Ephron, 2009)
Like much more than I expected, if only for the scene stealing cat. Modern day Julie, failed novelist and 9/11 insurance advisor, looks for something to fulfil herself and hits on the idea of a blog in which she cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's recipe book on French cooking, whilst in the forties Meryl Streep dons a REEdickU-LOOs Accent, avoids a dingo eating her baby, and writes a recipe book. Heart warming and surprisingly engrossing.
Two themes obsessed me as I watched it - what can a woman do? and the understanding husband. Julie is unfulfilled, and needs something more in her life - and Julia needs something to busy herself with as her husband (the sublime Stanley Tucci, no stranger to food movies - see Big Night) works as an embassy official in a series of postings. Any self-fulfillment on the part of the women is dependent on having husbands able to indulge them - and then undercut their agency by having to explain to their wives what they achieved. Neither of the women are husbands - in one case something so far presumably postponed, in the other some kind of tragedy is left unspoken.
I actually enjoyed it, and I hadn't expected to. But the cat is great.
LXXXVII: Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes, Nacho Vigalondo, 2007)
Spanish twisty turny time travel horror - it takes a while to get going but then follows a mostly predictable but enjoyable path. Middle aged Héctor (Karra Elejalde) returns to his new house and, when in the garden, notices a young woman exposing herself to him (Bárbara Goenaga; the character is apparently nameless). Going to investigate, Héctor is stabbed and then stumbles upon a secret research institute (staffed by the creepy looking director) as he is pursued by a figure in bandages. His only escape is through a time machine... (the way you do)
Héctor's behaviour, to be honest, gets increasingly suspect as the narrative wears on, turning into an homicidal jealous rage, but then he is involve in several car crashes and receives several blows to the head (and is stabbed). There is a little too much use of flash back to make sure you get it, and a Hitchcockian cheat, but you'll want to reach for a piece of paper to start unravelling the plot. I would like to rewatch it to check for details of car locations, but I suspect it does work.
It looks like there's American remake by the director on the way.
Totals: 87 - [Cinema: 23; DVD: 59; Television: 5]
Love triangle, uh, rhomboid, uh, pentagon. Love cross. X (Derek Magyar) is a male prostitute in love with the house mate, Andrew, who is meant to disguise his source of income. Whilst X struggles with whether he can allow himself to fall in love, he sees a new elderly client, Gregory Talbot (Patrick Bauchau, from Carnivale), who spins him a story of fifty years of desire. Actually quite nicely shot if not quite thought through, with too many threads not quite sewn back in, and it's unclear whether X is a mystery blogger or talking to a film audience.
LXXXIV: Lord of War (Andrew Niccol, 2005)
Atypical mainstream film from the man behind GATTACA, S1M0NE and The Truman Show. Nicholas Cage is a gun salesman supplying whomever will pay - which clearly has to be his brother (Jared Leto) because, hey, that's the genre. There's clearly an anti-gun message - which is aimed squarely at the arms trade of the US, UK, France, Russia and China - but you can't help but cheer for Cage (even post 8mm). The film rather criminally underuses Ian Holm and (to a lesser extent) Ethan Hawke, and has to do a bit of handwaving to allow the action to move away from Cage's character. Worth a look - even if it's rather like it's an antiglacier movie.
LXXXV: The Bunker (Rob Green, 2001)
Tidy little British horror flick with a very young thingie from Primaeval, and a little over determined. A retreating German army troupe find an all but abandoned bunker as they wait for the Americans to attack. Unfortunately the bunker is haunted by medieval spirits - and the squadron has its own dark secrets. A virtual who's that? of British tv actor - Jack Davenport, Jason Flemyng, Eddie Marsden,Andrew Lee Potts, Charlie Boorman.
LXXXVI: Julie and Julia (Nora Ephron, 2009)
Like much more than I expected, if only for the scene stealing cat. Modern day Julie, failed novelist and 9/11 insurance advisor, looks for something to fulfil herself and hits on the idea of a blog in which she cooks all the recipes in Julia Child's recipe book on French cooking, whilst in the forties Meryl Streep dons a REEdickU-LOOs Accent, avoids a dingo eating her baby, and writes a recipe book. Heart warming and surprisingly engrossing.
Two themes obsessed me as I watched it - what can a woman do? and the understanding husband. Julie is unfulfilled, and needs something more in her life - and Julia needs something to busy herself with as her husband (the sublime Stanley Tucci, no stranger to food movies - see Big Night) works as an embassy official in a series of postings. Any self-fulfillment on the part of the women is dependent on having husbands able to indulge them - and then undercut their agency by having to explain to their wives what they achieved. Neither of the women are husbands - in one case something so far presumably postponed, in the other some kind of tragedy is left unspoken.
I actually enjoyed it, and I hadn't expected to. But the cat is great.
LXXXVII: Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes, Nacho Vigalondo, 2007)
Spanish twisty turny time travel horror - it takes a while to get going but then follows a mostly predictable but enjoyable path. Middle aged Héctor (Karra Elejalde) returns to his new house and, when in the garden, notices a young woman exposing herself to him (Bárbara Goenaga; the character is apparently nameless). Going to investigate, Héctor is stabbed and then stumbles upon a secret research institute (staffed by the creepy looking director) as he is pursued by a figure in bandages. His only escape is through a time machine... (the way you do)
Héctor's behaviour, to be honest, gets increasingly suspect as the narrative wears on, turning into an homicidal jealous rage, but then he is involve in several car crashes and receives several blows to the head (and is stabbed). There is a little too much use of flash back to make sure you get it, and a Hitchcockian cheat, but you'll want to reach for a piece of paper to start unravelling the plot. I would like to rewatch it to check for details of car locations, but I suspect it does work.
It looks like there's American remake by the director on the way.
Totals: 87 - [Cinema: 23; DVD: 59; Television: 5]
