20160113: Horror Review--Awaken

Name: Awaken (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Darryl Hannah as Mao, Vinnie Jones as Sarge, Jason London as Rich, Michael Paré as Xander, Natalie Burn as Billie Kope, Robert Davi as Quentin, Edward Furlong as Berto, Wayne Kao as MJ, Christa Campbell as Kat, David Keith as Walsh, Augie Duke as Chloe, Michael Copan as Nick, Philip Tan as Todd, Katrin Assi as Erin, Christa Campbell as Kat.

Directed by: Mark Atkins.  Written by: Mark Atkins, Natalie Burn, Scott Martin.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Billie wakes up on a beach, battered and covered with sand.  Her short term memory is shot, but she remembers to find her dog tags before proceeding inland.  She soon joins a chase where one side is armed, and she is among the chased.  Erin is separated and killed by Sarge, the leader of the armed uniformed men.  Billie escapes with Berto, Chloe, Nick, and Todd, who lead her to Quentin, the de facto leader of the prisoners.  Billie swaps kidnapping stories with the others.

Rich seems to be the straw boss of the island.  He's disappointed with Sarge that Erin is dead.  Mao is coming the next day.

Delineation of conflicts: The gang of kidnappers/murderers would like to keep the human traffic flowing, since there is a lot of money in organ harvesting.  The prisoners would like to escape with their lives.  If possible, hurting the efforts of the traffickers would be nice.  The gang has weapons, transportation, radios, money, and contacts.  The prisoners have their good health, for a while, at least.  Billie tries to figure out the connections among them.

Resolution:  Do the prisoners find a weakness?

One line summary: Cliche vanity film.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 1/10 The extensive shaky cam scenes did not help.  Whoever did framing and transitions could have done a lot better.  Gratuitous zooming is something I have not seen for years.

  b. Sound: 5/10 OK, but nothing special.

  c. Acting: 2/10 Robert Davi, Michael Paré, David Keith, Vinnie Jones, and Edward Furlong have all been in much better films than this one.  However, the script is so poor that even good actors sound unconvincing.  The protagonist (and her single expression) was bad enough to sink the whole effort by herself, but she has plenty of help from the bit players.  Darryl Hannah has also been in some fine films, but her performance here was terrible.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Did not make a lick of sense.  I lost the count of instances of 'how could that possibly happen?'  The scenes written for Darryl Hannah were especially bad.  Pitting three civilians against two groups of well-armed mercenaries, for instance, was just ridiculous.  The action scenes were uniformly unconvincing.  These failures were so bad that efforts at exposition and motivation were badly blunted.

Final rating: 2/10

20160113: Thriller Review--Scar Tissue

Name: Scar Tissue (2013)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Thriller    Country of Origin: UK.

Cast: Danny Horn as Luke, Charity Wakefield as Sam, Mark Cameron as DI Hackman, Imogen Bain as Mo McQueen.

Written and directed by: Scott Michell.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Luke celebrates his 21st birthday by getting drunk with his friends and perhaps laid.  He's not used to being drunk, and takes no measures to protect himself.  He wakes up from being passed out because someone phones him.  He discovers his friend dead and hacked up in his bathroom.  He gets another call that hooks him up with Sam, a suspended, unstable police sergeant.  The police soon are swarming over his flat.  Sam knows the presiding detective, Hackman; they have a prickly history.

Delineation of conflicts: The police want to question Luke; Luke wants to keep his freedom.  Sam wants to solve this case, since it involves indirectly her murdered sister Lucy.  Hackman wants Sam to get lost.  The murderer likes playing with them as well as killing people.  He kidnaps people, then forces them to do his bidding.

Resolution: The principals need to identify the kidnapper/murderer.

One line summary: Old experiment ends badly.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 3/10 Washed out appearance.  The dark passages are especially bad since the cameras were not sufficient for the low light levels.

  b. Sound: 4/10 It's a quiet sort of film, most of the time.  What music there is seemed to be electronic from cheap instruments.  The music did not help, nor did the leveling problems between voice and background.

  c. Acting: 1/10 Oh, so very bad.

  d. Screenplay: 0/10 The film was next to opaque at the beginning.  The actions of the characters were not well motivated.  The philosophising toward the end came out of nowhere.  As the philosophy changed to particulars, the film started to make a bit more sense.  The marching to the wretched conclusion was perhaps the worst part of the film.  None of the characters were worth caring about.

Final rating: 1/10

20160112: Action Review--Constantine

Name: Constantine (2005)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror   Country of Origin: USA, DE.

Cast: Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson, Shia LaBoef as Chas Kramer, Djimon Hounsou as Midnight, Max Baker as Beeman, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel, Peter Stormare as Lucifer, Jose Zuniga as Detective Weiss, Gavin Rossdale as Balthazar, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Father Hennessy.

Directed by: Francis Lawrence.  Written by: Kevin Brodbin and Frank A. Capello

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The titles say, 'The Spear of Destiny' has been missing since the end of World War II.  So what is this spear?  Perhaps we will find out.

In the present day, Manuel and friend are sifting debris.  Manuel almost falls through some rotten floor boards.  Beneath the boards he discovers a spearhead wrapped in a Nazi flag.  He walks away from his friend with the spearhead, but is immediately hit by a car.  He receives a mark, then rises and trots away, seemingly unharmed.  What could this mean?

In the second thread, John Constantine and his allies watch for incursions from hell, and act against them as best they can.  Hennessy calls John for an exorcism, and the type of demon that John scotches tells him that something is afoot.

In the third thread, Detective Angela asks her priest for guidance.  Her twin Isabel commits suicide.  Angela is at a loss.

Delineation of conflicts:  Lucifer and company have plans for broaching the barriers to invading Earth.  The archangel Gabriel (heaven) and the demon Balthazar (hell) each has plans of his own.  John is dying of cancer while he's trying to protect as much of Earth as possible.  Angela wants to know what is going on with her life, and what happened to Isabel.  Chas wants to get more out of his apprenticeship with John.  Hennessy would like to live a bit longer, and help John if he can.  Midnite tries to stay neutral between heaven and hell.

Resolution: I thought the film came to a good, though harsh, conclusion.  What did you think?

One line summary: In the Catholic mythos sub-genre, my favourite.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Too dark for my taste, but otherwise fine.

  b. Sound: 9/10 I could hear the dialog and the incidental music as quite good.  I liked Passive by A Perfect Circle and Take Five by Dave Brubeck the best.  Not everybody liked the original work, for instance as mentioned in sound review , but I thought it fit nicely with the subject, cliches and all.

  c. Acting: 10/10 Brilliant.  Reeves, Weisz, Stormare, Swinton, Baker, Hounsou, Rossdale, Vince, and even LaBoef did fine jobs.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 I thought the dialog was good, and the story threads fit together nicely.

Final rating: 9/10

20160111: Action Review--Death Squad

Name: Death Squad [2047: Sights of Death] (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: SciFi, Horror   Country of Origin: Italy.

Cast: Stephen Baldwin as Captain Ryan Willburn, Danny Glover as Sponge, Darryl Hannah as Major Anderson, Michael Madsen as Lobo, Rutger Hauer as Colonel Asimov, Neva Leoni as Tuag.

Directed by: Alessandro Capone.  Written by: Tommaso Agnese and Luca D'Alisera.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Set in 2047, we open with Sponge reminiscing about the disasters that led to the current strongly screwed up Earth.  Cities have been largely destroyed and dosed with radiation. Satellites from previous eras fall to Earth now and then; they sometimes land with parts of their technology intact.  Captain Ryan Willburn was sent after the latest fall to determine whether any useful technology or data survived the re-entry.  After Ryan crashes instead of lands, he meets Tuag, a young mutant woman.

Delineation of conflicts:  Sponge and Ryan are part of the Green War front, which opposes the Confederate Central Government, CCG.  Just about everyone else is not part of Green War, and would rather shut them down.  Colonel Asimov, Major Anderson, and Lobo (leader of a mercenary gang) are out to capture Ryan.  Ryan thinks he has evidence from the satellite to bring down the current regime.

Asimov has more in mind than just official duties.  He's hired longtime ally Lobo to help him do his extracurricular activities.  This involves layers of cover up.  Just to make things more fun, the whole area of interaction is laced with some hallucinogen.

Resolution: Look hard.  I did not find one. The narration just dried up without any particular conclusion.

One line summary: Murky dystopian elimination derby.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 4/10 The focus was usually good, and the cameras were not too shaky.  However, the sets were not well-lit, and the set of filters was poor to the point that it might as well have been greyscale.  The small number of VFX were rather badly done.

  b. Sound: 7/10 The dialog was easy enough to understand.  The background music was just so-so.

  c. Acting: 1/10 These actors (Glover, Madsen, Hauer, Hannah, Baldwin) have some fine movies in their filmographies.  This was not a shining moment for any of them.  The plus one was for Darryl Hannah trying now and then.

  d. Screenplay: 0/10 Was there a director on set?  The screenplay was hardly strong, but the director usually has some responsibility to check that delivery is up to some standard or another.  Baldwin's performance could have been topped by almost any high school thespian.  All these actors could have done better.

The story sucked rocks.  What did the Danny Glover thread have to do with anything?  Who were the anarchists?  Where was the eastern quadrant or whatever it was?  What was Asimov trying to do that needed covering up?  Was anything in the narration not hallucination?  Why should I care about this self-stultifying mess?

Final rating: 3/10

20160109: SciFi Review--Bloodworx

Name: Bloodworx (2012)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: SciFi, Horror   Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Tricia Helfer as Dr Wilcox, Eric Roberts as 'man in suit', Travis van Winkle as Greg, John Bregar as Rob Jeffries, Mircea Monroe as Stacey, Stephen Bogaert as Ira, Albert Chung as Huy, Tamara Feldman as Linnea, Anna Ferguson as Maggie, Yanna McIntosh as Patricia, Rik Young as Nigel Denton.

Directed by: Eric Wostenberg.  Written by: David Nahmod.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The opening titles show biological experimentation as the credits go by.  We shift to Greg and Rob, two college drones looking for effortless money, being interviewed at Ravexin Pharmaceuticals by Dr Wilcox.  The test was for 14 days; the money was over 3000 USD.  They get to the testing facility and meet the other test subjects for the first round.

Delineation of conflicts:  Initially, the test subjects want to get through the 14 days and collect their cash.  Later, the subjects just want to get out alive.  The company wants to observe results.

Aberrant behaviour and random health problems start manifesting after just a couple of days, and the first dose.  The staff want to keep things calm, while the test subjects want to return to normal.

As the doses continue, the weirdness increases.  Greg finds that Ravexin (RXZ-19) is not about allergies.  Also, it has more side effects.

Resolution: Out of control clinical trial ends badly.

One line summary:  Surviving clinical trials.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Clear images, well-shot, well-lit.

  b. Sound: 8/10 There was a good portion of eerie background music.  I could hear dialog clearly.  The sounds paired with loose bowel movements I could have done without, but I guess that was part of the gig.

  c. Acting: 7/10 Tricia Helfer was fine.  Travis van Winkle and John Bregar were better than I expected at first.  None of the actors were particularly bad.

  d. Screenplay: 3/10 The collapse into cliche toward the end of the movie was a huge disappointment.

Final rating: 6/10

20160109: Action Review--April Rain

Name: April Rain (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Action   Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Ming-Na Wen as Hillary Miller, Luke Goss as John Sikes, Vincent Spano as Ron Thomas, Ally Walker as Linda Sikes, Deniz Akdeniz as Tariq Akbar, Jake Lawson as Yousef, Ryan Guzman as Alex Stone, Brittany Beery as Katrina, Teresa de Fonte as Lisa, Miranda Frigon as Rita, Anne Marie Howard as Reporter, Dragos Beldie as Sammy, Jewel Christian as Agnus, Adrian L. Tudor as Mikhail Kotov, Andrew Keegan as Nick Kotov, Doug Savant as Ken Singleton.

Written and directed by: Luciano Saber.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: A transaction between crime groups goes bad quickly.  One group kills the other.  There are repercussions, like disposing of a body, and sniffing out any government spies. The local cops show up for a moment, and are eliminated.  One undercover agent calls for help, and we meet more of the local SIU (Special Investigations Unit) team.  The emphasis shifts from mob crime to terrorism.

Delineation of conflicts:  Terrorists (foreign and domestic) want to kill people and blow things up.  The SIU tries to stop this.  Local police are clueless and largely not involved.  Wives are enraged with their cheating husbands.  Tariq has a beautiful wife, a good job, a nice house, and local friends, but he hears the call of terror, which is clearly more important to him than all the other factors put together.

Resolution: Lots of people get killed, which simplifies the game going forward somewhat.  This film ended because the credits showed up.  That is, it looked like a sequel was expected to be made.

One line summary: SIU versus motley crew of terrorists.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Clear images, well-shot, well-lit.

  b. Sound: 4/10 I could hear the actors speak their lines, but sometimes the voices were hollow or muffled.  Background foley and music are well balanced in terms of leveling.  The rousing, positive music played during one of the climactic shoot outs while people were dying left and right was jarring.

  c. Acting: 2/10 I've seen Luke Goss, Vincent Spano, Ming-Na Wen, Ally Walker, and Miranda Frigon in much better properties.  Most of the other less well-known actors were pretty bad, but Deniz Akdeniz and Jake Lawson was incredibly bad, as in never should have been hired.

  d. Screenplay: 3/10 The slow motion chase on Vespas was just ridiculous.  Many of the conversations made little to no sense.  The shifts from scenes featuring actors to those including non-actors adds some little needed chaos.  The film did not come to an end.  It just stopped narration; then the credits rolled.

Final rating: 4/10

20160108: Horror Review--The Hybrid

Name: The Hybrid [Scintilla] (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction    Country of Origin: UK.

Cast: John Lynch as Jim Powell, Morjana Alaoui as Dr Lyla Healy, Ned Dennehy as Harris,  Craig Conway as Mason, Antonia Thomas as Steinmann, Jumayn Hunter as Spencer, Beth Winslet as Dr Irvine, Perri Hanson as Goethe, Edward Dagliani as Corry.

Directed by: Billy O'Brien.   Written by: Billy O'Brien, Rob Green, and G. P. Taylor.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Mercenaries invade a compound in a former Soviet republic.  At 36 minutes in, that was all that was accomplished.  They have some advanced intel, so they know how to penetrate deep (as in below the surface) into the compound.  It's a medical research facility of some sort.

Delineation of conflicts:  Something 'down there' is waiting for them, and is not friendly.  The mercenaries get stuck with hypodermics and gassed.

The reason for the effort was the desire on the part of the Soviets to catch up with UK-CH-US in terms of genetics.  A vastly old meteorite found on Soviet territory contained some DNA of unknown origin.  The scientific effort was to learn things about genetics using the DNA plus whatever was needed to fill in from the human genome.  Hence the title, The Hybrid.

The orders for the mercenaries from their client is to get the research and destroy the facility.  The hybrids have different ideas altogether.

Resolution: True motives and abilities show up, along with unexpected stupidity.

One line summary: Losing effort against human-alien hybrids.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Clear images, well-shot, well-lit.

  b. Sound: 4/10 The actors were adequately miked.  Background foley and music are well balanced in terms of leveling.  The electronic compositions took the sense of the alien over the top; that is, helped make sections of the film totally unbelievable.  One might as well play tunes from the Muppets.

  c. Acting: 2/10 The performances were quite variable.  John Lynch was fairly good, but most of of the cast was quite bad.

  d. Screenplay: 3/10 The action aspects were fairly strong in the front end of the movie, but the science-oriented sections were sketchy, to be generous.  Toward the end of the film, the experienced mercenaries seemed clueless about any type of survival procedures, and got picked off needlessly.  Too many things were given no explanation whatsoever.

Final rating: 4/10

20160107: Horror Review--Nightlight

Name: Night Light (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Shelby Young as Robin, Chloe Bridges as Nia, Taylor Murphy as Amelia,Carter Jenkins as Chris, Mitch Hewer as Ben, Kyle Fain as Ethan.

Written and directed by: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: There is a short do it yourself video of Ethan, a depressed male teen, discussing his failed suicide attempt, plus his attachment to Robin.  We jump to five teens (Robin; Nia, Amelia, Chris, and Ben) starting a flashlight gaming night in the Covington Woods.  The woods has a reputation as a place where teens commit suicide, and where ghosts reside.  Plus, there is a scary church located within it.

Delineation of conflicts:  Robin has a job as a service person at an ice cream parlor.  Nia and Amelia look down on employment.  Robin is the newbie in the group, and the rest plan to haze her.   Something in the woods does not like any of them.  The plans for hazing seem to get replaced by other plans. Robin would like to live through the night and go home with her dog, but the wood seems opposed.

Resolution: Elimination derby.

One line summary: Shaky cam elimination derby in scary woods.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 0/10 Shaky cam, poorly done, with insufficient light, odd angles, bad focus, flickering flashlights.

  b. Sound: 3/10 I could hear the dialog clearly.  Too many failed jump scares blunted my interest in the sound track.  The endless audible breathing and crunching of forest floor litter did not help either.

  c. Acting: 1/10 Poor.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Enough pointless swearing for 10 films.  Panicked appeals to religion and superstition about ghosts just sounded incoherent.  As per usual, no adult supervision is in evidence, and the teens are each as stupid as a bag of rocks.  They separate, they undermine each other, they panic.  The incident with the bear trap was just too much, and that was just one of many.

Final rating: 1/10

20160105: Comedy Review--Manhattan 1979

Name: Manhattan (1979)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Isaac Davis, Diane Keaton as Mary Wilkie, Michael Murphy as Yale, Mariel Hemingway as Tracy, Meryl Streep as Jill, Anne Byrne Hoffman as Emily, Karen Ludwig as Connie, Shawn Wallace as Jeremiah.

Directed by: Woody Allen.   Written by: Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film features some fine shooting in black and white.  Isaac, 42, has drinks with his long time friend Yale, Yale's wife Emily, and Tracey, his current girlfriend, who is 17 (yikes).  Isaac's ex Jill, who left him for another woman, is writing a tell-all book about their marriage.  Isaac decides to quit his well-paying job to write a book.

Delineation of conflicts:  Isaac is not thrilled with Jill's book, but she is adamant about getting it published.  Yale is having an affair with Mary, while Emily seeks the deeper commitment of children.  Yale puts her off.  Tracy would like Isaac to be happy, which is not ever going to be an easy thing.  Isaac would like Tracy to have a normal happy youth; Tracy would like some commitment from Isaac.  Isaac would like to be with his son more, but his obsession with intellect would probably never allow that.  The triangle of Yale, Mary, and Isaac takes a number of turns, and has repercussions.

Resolution: The personal connections move forward, some for better, some for the worse.  Yep, that is about it, but it's well done.

One line summary: Relationships in NYC.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 9/10 Beautifully shot.  Loved the scenes of Mary and Isaac walking in the planetarium.

  b. Sound: 7/10 The actors are not always miked well, so some of the conversations dropped out or were slurred.  That sucked.  The music on the other hand, was rather good, featuring sections of a number of Gershwin compositions.  Of course, younger viewers who have not heard all these tunes dozens of times might disagree.

  c. Acting: 7/10 I loved the performances of Michael Murphy, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, and Mariel Hemingway.  Meryl Streep I could have done without.  I liked the short scene with Wallace Shawn.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 There were a good number of laughs.  I am still wondering what 'interstellar perversion' is.

Final rating: 8/10

20160103: Comedy Review--Casino Royale 1967

Name: Casino Royale (1987)
IMDb: link IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: David Niven as James Bond, Peter Sellers as Evelyn Tremble, John Huston as M/General MacTarry, William Holden as Ransome (CIA), Charles Boyer as Le Grande (le deuxieme bureau), Kurt Kasznar as Smernov, Orson Welles as Le Chiffre, Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd, Joanna Pettet as Mata Bond, Deborah Kerr as Agent Mimi, Jean-Paul Belmondo as le Legionnaire, Derek Nimmo as Hadley, Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond (the nephew), Barbara Bouchet as Moneypenney, Peter O'Toole as Corbett, Jacqueline Bisset as Miss Goodthighs.

Directed by:  Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, Richard Talmadge.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The 'real' James Bond is retired.  Since the intelligence services of US-UK-FR-RU have been decimated, M from UK, Ransome from US, Legrand from FR, and Smernov from RU approach the retired Sir James Bond to help them solve the problem.  This does not go as expected.

Delineation of conflicts:  Agents seem to be exercising their reputations as sex maniacs (as Bond put it), and getting killed by groups of women.  So, who is the boss behind it all?  Bond starts training agents to resist women.  He enlists Vesper Lynd to get Evelyn Tremble's help (in re baccarat) with the sinister card player (and SMERSH agent and hokie magician) Le Chiffre.  Jimmy Bond is always in trouble, and seems to be yet another wild card in this potpourri of weirdness.  Sir James recruits his daughter by Mata Hari, Mata Bond, to infiltrate the group of women spies that have been attacking western spies.

Resolution: There are lots of opposing processes at work here so one might expect lots of action, but this is a comedy, after all.

One line summary: Artsy and bizarre take on Fleming's book.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.  The art direction is between interesting and amazing, and at times sumptuous.  The East German interior sets were quite something.

  b. Sound: 8/10 Good, with some nostalgic pop tunes included.

  c. Acting: 8/10 David Niven was fine.  Joanna Pettet was a lot of fun to watch.  Peter Sellers and Woody Allen were up to their usual standards.  The many cameos were clever and funny.

  d. Screenplay: 4/10 Bullshit, start to finish.  Most of this script makes no sense at all.  The film has next to nothing to do with Ian Fleming's book, and has continuity problems, such as abrupt and unexplained changes in venue.  Also, the references to the books Dr No and Goldfinger were head scratchers. This is the work of five directors, and the resulting chaos is rather clear.  The segment with Woody Allen was perhaps the worst.  On the other hand, I had at least 10 good laughs for sight gags and witty lines.

Final rating: 7/10

20160101: Comedy Review--Radio Days

Name: Radio Days (1987)
IMDb: link IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Joe (the adult Narrator), Seth Green as Joe (the child), Wallace Shawn as Masked Avenger (radio character), Mia Farrow as Sally White, Tony Roberts as MC of 'Silver Dollar', Dianne Wiest as Bea (the aunt), Danny Aiello as Rocco (hit man), Jeff Daniels as Biff Baxter, Julie Kavner as Tess (Joe's mother), Michael Tucker as Martin (Joe's father), Larry David as Communist neighbor, Kenneth Mars as Rabbi Baumel, Renee Lippin as Aunt Ciel, Josh Mostel as Uncle Abe, Julie Kurnitz as Irene, David Warrilow as Roger, Joy Newman as Cousin Ruthie, Diane Keaton as New Year's radio singer ('To Come Home To').

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: This is a two-tier movie.  One layer is a blue collar story of young Joe growing up in NYC starting around 1942: his school life, home life, and time spent with the radio.  The upper layer is about the stars of the radio programs.  Sally White starts in one layer, as a cigarette girl in the nightclubs, who wants a life more like the stars she serves.

Delineation of conflicts:  Sally White has a rough start climbing to the top, but she perseveres.  Joe's family contends with strange neighbors, the coming of the war, an additional child, the national rationing programs, underemployment, and a single aunt who cannot catch a break in terms of romance.

Resolution: Time marches forward.  The story threads interact this way and that in dozens of vignettes.  This movie is more about nostalgia than about giant climaxes.  Sally's long thread comes the closest to having a big payoff circa New Year's 1944.

One line summary: Woody's childhood against the backdrop of radio programs.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.

  b. Sound: 10/10 The sound is fine, and the musical accompaniment was rich and appropriate for the early1940s.  Ah, Carmen Miranda!

  c. Acting: 9/10 I loved the performances of Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow, Michael Tucker, Julie Kavner, and Seth Green. Plus, nobody was bad.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 Nice interplay of story threads.  I had a good 25 laughs or more.

Final rating: 9/10

20151231: Comedy Review--Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Name: Curse of the Jade Scorpion (1984)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as C. W. Briggs, Helen Hunt as Betty Ann Fitzgerald, David Ogden Stiers as Voltan, Dan Aykroyd as Chris Magruder, Charlize Theron as Laura Kensington, Elizabeth Berkley as Jill, John Schuck as Mize, Wallace Shawn as George Bond.

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: CW Briggs is a very successful insurance investigator who has a long track record of recovering stolen goods.  He also has betting problems, but his biggest problem is Betty Ann Fitzgerald, the new efficiency expert.  She wants to undermine his way of doing things, and would probably like him to leave the company.  By an odd circumstance, Briggs and Fitzgerald get dragooned into being subjects of hypnosis.  The hypnotist, Voltan, plants a keyword on each of them so that he can induce the trance state later.

Delineation of conflicts:  The old guard represented by CW versus the new business processes of 1940 represented by Fitzgerald.  Magruder, who runs the company, wants to be with Fitzgerald, but is wishy-washy about leaving his wife.  Voltan intends to use Briggs and Fitzgerald to leverage their interior knowledge of rich families' homes to complete major robberies on the sly.  Fitzgerald hires two private detectives to 'help' CW.

Resolution: Voltan is rather successful at first.  The private detectives and the police catch up with his efforts, but do they catch the right suspect?

One line summary: Woody as insurance investigator in 1940.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot.  Loved it.

  b. Sound: 10/10 The sound is fine, and the musical accompaniment was good for 1940.

  c. Acting: 9/10 Allen was in his element, and Helen Hunt was fine as his sparring partner.  I liked Stiers, Shawn, Aykroyd, and Theron quite a bit.  I saw no bad acting at all.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 I watched the film as a comedy, and must have laughed at least 20 times.   The one-liners were sharp, the situations outrageous and funny.

Final rating: 9/10

20151230: Comedy Review--Broadway Danny Rose

Name: Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Danny Rose, Mia Farrow as Tina Vitale, Nick Apollo Forte as Lou Canova.

Sandy Baron as Sandy Baron, Corbett Monica as Corbett Monica, Morty Gunty as Morty Gunty, Milton Berle as Milton Berle, Will Jordan as Will Jordan, Howard Storm as Howard Storm.

Written and directed by: Woody Allen.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film opens with a smoker party of comedians/entertainers who have operated in the Catskills and other clubs on the Atlantic seaboard.  During their reminiscences, the group starts talking about the legendary nebbish personal manager Danny Rose.

In the process, the story starts of Danny's nurturing the career of Lou Canova after it has already fallen a considerable distance.  The comedians show up intermittently to nudge the story forward.

Delineation of conflicts:  Tina Vitale becomes important to Lou Canova, but she's a big bag of randomness.  Dealing with her to keep Lou centred is Danny's challenge.  Plus, Lou is married to Teresa, and has been for years.  What could possibly go wrong?  Danny finds out as Lou's career shows a few moments of picking up.  Danny's problems get worse when Tina's relatives (part of the mob) get involved, and not in a nice way.

Resolution: The nebbish and the doll go on the run.  Will it save them?

One line summary: Woody Allen plays a theatrical manager.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 8/10 Black and white, not my favourite by any means, but beautifully shot.

  b. Sound: 9/10 Recorded in monaural, but still good.

  c. Acting: 8/10 The lead trio gave good performances.

  d. Screenplay: 8/10 Some clever writing here.  I had no idea that "I didn't do anything!" could be repeated for good effect so many times.

Final rating: 8/10 I had quite a number of laughs.

20151230: Comedy Review--Everything You Always Wanted to Know

Name: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (1972)
IMDb: link to IMDb      

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen appears in most of the vignettes.  link to Wikipedia
  a. 'Do Aphrodisiacs Work?' with Lynn Redgrave.
  b. 'What Is Sodomy?' with Gene Wilder.
  c. 'Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching Orgasm?' with Louise Lasser.
  d. 'Are Transvestites Homosexuals?' with Lou Jacobi.
  e. 'What Are Sex Perverts?' with Regis Philbin, Robert Q. Lewis, and Pamela Mason.
  f. 'Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate?' with John Huston and Heather MacRae.
  g. 'What Happens During Ejaculation?' with Burt Reynolds, Tony Randall, Erin Fleming, Robert Walden.

Directed by: Woody Allen.  Written by:  Woody Allen (screenplay), David Reuben (book).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The film is an anthology. Each story is about an aspect (or several) of sexual behaviour.
  a. Chastity belts and aphrodisiac potions in medieval times in England.
  b. Gene Wilder as a respected physician who falls in lust with a patient's sheep.
  c. Italian-speaking Woody Allen trying to be as macho as possible, but cannot initially find the key to his wife's satisfaction.
  d. A middle class man experiments with women's clothes.
  e. A game show, filmed in grainy black and white, has panelists attempting to guess the perversion of the guest.
  f. John Huston as the mad scientist rejected by Masters and Johnson.  He's out to prove his strange theories.  As a side effect (second part of the vignette), a giant mobile breast is created that terrorises the countryside.  Allen and MacRae play a scientist and a journalist covering the action.
  g. Tony Randall quarterbacks the male brain's attempt to manage bodily resources during a hot romantic date.

Delineation of conflicts:  In each case, some aspect of sexual behaviour is explored.  The vignettes are self-contained.  The common thread, though, is that some private behaviour can become public, with consequences varying from embarrassment to jail to death.

Resolution: The surfacing of private sexual behaviour is done for comic effect.

One line summary: One of Woody's more raucous efforts.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 4/10 Gag me with a spoon.

  b. Sound: 6/10 OK, but not all that interesting.

  c. Acting: 6/10 This was quite variable.  I liked the performances of Louise Lasser, Gene Wilder (despite the subject), Tony Randall, and Burt Reynolds.  I thought Woody Allen was at his best in (c), which was a lot of fun.

  d. Screenplay: 7/10 This was from the funny era of Woody Allen films, and I got quite a few good laughs out of this one.  However, the 7 vignettes were not equally funny.  Some were more boring than anything else, such as (d).  The segments (a), (b), (c), and (g) were humorous, but (e) and (f), not so much.

Final rating: 6/10 I was looking for funny, and I found it.  Well, most of the time.  Also, in 43 years the film has not aged all that well.  What was funny about sex in 1972 is not all quite as funny in 2015.

20151230: Comedy Review--Play It Again Sam

Name: Play It Again, Sam (1972)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Comedy    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Woody Allen as Allan Felix, Diane Keaton as Linda Christie, Tony Roberts as Dick Christie, Jerry Lacy as Humphrey Bogart, Susan Anspach as Nancy, Jennifer Salt as Sharon, Joy Bang as Julie, Viva as Jennifer.

Directed by: Herbert Ross.  Written by:  Woody Allen (theatre play and screenplay).

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: At the very front of the film is an extended clip from the tail end of Casablanca (1942).  If you are aiming to see Play It Again, Sam I would suggest seeing Casablanca first, if you have not already.  That parting scene is close to the heart of neurotic movie critic Allan, who lives in San Francisco.

The film soon jumps to the reality of Allan's wife leaving him.  Allan's involvement with Casablanca spills over into his life as the waking hallucination of Bogart giving him advice for his many problems.  No one else sees Bogart, of course.

Delineation of conflicts:  Allan's arguments with his ex wife are largely over, but she comes back to bite him now and then.  Allan tries to re-enter the dating scene with the help of close friend Dick Christie and wife Linda Christie.  These attempts run counter to Allan's lack of confidence, urge to impress by fakery, and need to make clever comments over making progress.  Bogart's suggestions make sense for Bogart, but not so much for Allan.

As the dating failures mount, Allan and Linda have a growing sense of attraction.  Linda is married to Dick, and Dick is Allan's best friend, so how can this work?

Resolution: The film comes full circle.

One line summary: Humphrey Bogart advises Woody Allen.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 7/10 Wow, a Woody Allen film not set in NYC!  Then again, Herbert Ross was directing.  The visuals were more pleasing than I expected.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was well-chosen.

  c. Acting: 8/10 I liked the three leads.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 This was from the funny era of Woody Allen films, and I got quite a few good laughs out of this one.  The dating failures and the recurrent reading of telephone numbers by Tony Roberts were my favourite gags, and the level of wit was fairly nice.

Final rating: 8/10 I was looking for funny, and I found it.

20151230: Drama Review--Another Woman

Name: Another Woman (1988)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Drama.    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Gena Rowlands as Marion, Mia Farrow as Hope, Ian Holm as Ken, Gene Hackman as Larry, Blythe Danner as Lydia, Phillip Bosco as Sam, John Houseman as Marion's father, David Ogden Stiers as Marion's father (younger), Martha Plimpton as Laura, Sandy Dennis as Claire, Harris Yulin as Paul.

Written and directed by:  Woody Allen.  Cinematographer: Sven Nyqvist.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Marion turned 50, and all seems well with her.  She's a philosophy professor and an author who is on sabbatical to write a new book.  She's rented a flat to allow her to concentrate on the writing.  Unfortunately, the sound of conversation drifts in through the air vent from the adjacent flat.  The introspection starts.

Delineation of conflicts:  Marion thinks her marriage is just fine, but then she discovers hanging weaknesses.  She believes her relationships with her family are OK, but then starts revisiting those relationships.  She was convinced friends and family thought highly of her, but then gets a number of reappraisals.

Resolution: Earnest discussions produce new discoveries; will these help Marion?

One line summary: Midlife crisis for a woman professor.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 10/10 Technically excellent with nice sets of choices in terms of art and costume.  Watching the film was a pleasure to the eye.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was well-chosen.  The sound seemed muted and somber as a whole, but then this was a somber tale.

  c. Acting: 10/10 Fine actors and fine performances.

  d. Screenplay: 9/10 Slow and careful.  The flashback techniques were smooth rather than jarring, as is often the case in film.  The realignment process (Marion's perceptions of herself versus others' perceptions of her) was intriguing to watch.

Final rating: 9/10

20151220: SciFi Review--Automata2014

Name: Automata (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: SciFi.    Country of Origin: Bulgaria, Spain.

Cast: Antonio Banderas as Jacq Vaucan, Dylan McDermott as Sean Wallace, Melanie Griffith as Dra Dupre, Robert Forster as Robert Bold, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen as Rachel Vaucan.

Directed by:  Gabe Iváñez.   Written by: Gabe Iváñez, Igor Legarreta.

duality

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: By 2044, the Earth is in severe dystopia.  Solar radiation has killed 99.7% of the human population.  Supposedly that means 21 million humans survive.  The faux savior corporation, ROC, has constructed multitudes of the Automata Pilgrim 7000 robot to help build shields against the sun and rebuild human infrastructure.

By design, robots are supposed to obey two laws.  One: do no harm to humans.  Two: do not alter or repair robots.  The longer legalise versions of the laws one can catch in the film.

In the first minutes of the film, enforcer Wallace finds a robot repairing itself.  He blows its head off.  This act has far-reaching consequences.

Delineation of conflicts:  The energy pouring from the volatile sun has already killed the vast majority of the human race.  The pitiful remnant of the human race thinks it can overcome this and survive long term. The ongoing extermination process is the central conflict of the film; everything else derives from it.

Robots were designed and built to serve humanity.  Robots have evolved somewhat, and are trying to take care of themselves.  Humans in positions of power do not like this, particularly the members of the arch-villain corporation ROC.  Other human elements are aiding the robots.

The insurance investigator Vaucan, who works for ROC, is tasked with getting to the bottom of the robot problem, or at least covering it over.  He manages to get Wallace to help him.  Unfortunately for Vaucan, he becomes interested in more than just his work orders.  This conflicts with ROC's interests.

Resolution: Discoveries are made at great cost.  Decisions have to be made because of those discoveries.  Yes, that is true of a large percentage of films, so watch the movie to know the discoveries and decisions.

One line summary: Derivative, boring, ugly, and forgettable dystopian rubbish.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 4/10 The film uses typically ugly dystopian set design and camera choices. The visuals are menage a cliche. The grunge and decay have been repeated dozens of times, from District 9 to Blade Runner to Escape from New York to The Matrix.  Those films were all better because they had sparks of originality, which this film lacks.

  b. Sound: 6/10 I could hear the dialog.

  c. Acting: 4/10 Dylan McDermott often plays a strongly masculine blunt instrument.  This is just one more instance, so ho-hum.  In the right environments, such as The Practice, McDermott has given some fine performances.   This was not one of them; it seemed more like Olympus Has Fallen, which was a pleasant enough film, but definitely not because of McDermott.

Banderas has a flair for, and a history of, playing emotive roles.  This was more of the same, but not one of his better performances.

Melanie Griffith was fine, but in an all too short role.  I liked Robert Forster's performance.

The use of robots as primary characters is a bit much.  The robots show no affect, no body English.  One might as well be watching poor animation; one is getting only the voice of a voice actor, not the full range of an actor in full blown live action.  Worse by far is that the robots appear as simple as stone slabs, but are said to be soooooooo much smarter than humans.  Bullshit.  If you must lie to me, at least try to be convincing.

  d. Screenplay: 4/10 The adaptation of Asimov's three laws for robots was weak.  Why not just use the originals wholesale?  The use of robots as surrogate slaves for the purpose of vilifying slavery one more time is just too old, too rehashed, too remade, too rebooted.

Final rating: 4/10 Drudgery to watch, and I will never watch it again.

20151211: Horror Review---Dark Was the Night

Name: Dark Was the Night (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror.    Country of Origin: USA.

Cast: Kevin Durand (Noah, Real Steel) as Paul Shields (the Sheriff), Lukas Haas (Transcendence, Inception) as Donny Saunders (deputy), Steve Agee as Foreman, Ethan Khusidman as Adam Shields, Billy Paterson as Ron (local horse owner), Bianca Kajlich as Susan Shields.

Directed by:  Jack Heller.   Written by: Tyler Hisel.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: The very beginning of the film is consists of archival footage of logging backed up with atonal, jump-out-of-your-skin music.  Trees are ripped apart, with chunks of them turned to chips by automatic machinery.  Tree trunks are dumped skinned (figuratively speaking) of their bark, separated from limbs and roots, on the ground for future pickup.

Next we switch to a staged logging site with modern photography, no current tree destruction, and next to no sound.  The site is closing down for the weekend; a winter storm is coming in.  The foreman checks up on the last crew still on the (moderately) secure and closed site.  This does not go well.  The early splatter set my expectations going in the wrong direction for a moment.  This is more of a suspenseful film.

Delineation of conflicts:  Near the town of Tanner, the logging company cuts down trees to produce lumber to sell.  Creatures in that wooded area are forced to move to find a new habitat.  In Maiden Woods, to the south of Tanner, the local animal owners would like their animals to be safe, while the new creatures in the woods are hungry.  Hunters would like to shoot deer as usual, and wonder about the migration of animals.

The local Sheriff, Paul Shields, his wife Susan, and their remaining son Adam are separated after the death of their other son, Tim.  Everyone in town wants the sheriff to heal from this, but he is wallowing in it.  Various religious themes are batted about with little consensus.  Is the creature the devil, or some animal thought extinct?  Does the Sheriff need to reconnect to the deity, or is he just lost in sorrow?  Was the deputy from New York City 'meant' to have moved to the film's small town, or was this just a single workaholic man drifting through life?

While dealing with his emotional issues, Paul has to help out the town, the horse owners, the hunters, and the Sheriff's department by figuring out what's going on.

Resolution: The Sheriff, Deputy Saunders, the forest rangers, and local hunters get closer to understanding the threat to Maiden Woods.  Is there a workable solution?

One line summary: More suspenseful than the usual creature feature.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 7/10 Focus, framing, depth of field and a number of other characteristics of good visuals are spot on.  The dark palette dominated by grey, black, and muted blue fit the story lines well.  So the visuals help set the tone of the film as dreary, sad, with a big side of foreboding.

  b. Sound: 8/10 I could hear the dialog, and the background music was better than most creature feature films.

  c. Acting: 7/10 Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas were fine.   Most of the other actors were OK.

  d. Screenplay: 7/10 The usual creature feature progressions move right along, which was quite welcome.  The sheriff's family's emotional mess drags on and on, which I could have done without. Toward the final act, Paul has focused on the problem, and shares information with other affected local communities. It looks like progress is possible, which was nice.  The conclusion was definitely that of a horror film.

Final rating: 7/10

20151209: Fantasy Review--Painted Skin 2

Name: Painted Skin: the Resurrection (2012)    IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Fantasy, mystery, romance.    Country of Origin: China.   Directed by:  Wuershan.

Cast: Zhou Xun as Xiaowei (fox demon), Chen Kun as Huo Xin (warrior), Zhao Wei as Princess Jing, Mi Yang as Quer (bird demon), Morgan Benoit as the Wolf Boy of Tian Lang Kingdom, Shaofeng Feng as Pang Lang (the Monster Slayer), Kris Phillips as the Witch Doctor of Tian Lang.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Sequel to Painted Skin (2008).  Five hundred years have passed since the fox demon Xiaowei was imprisoned in the original film.  The bird demon Quer helped Xiaowei escape, and travels with her.  Xiaowei has a habit of eating the hearts of human men whom she had seduced.  She does this to regenerate the pleasing side of her visible form.

Xiaowei rather disliked the time in the frost prison, and looks for a change to her life.  She encounters Princess Jing and Huo Xin, the warrior who was entrusted to guard Jing.  However, Jing's face was disfigured on Huo Xin's watch.  He blames himself for this; Jing had a golden mask made to cover it.

Delineation of conflicts: Xiawei comes to like Jing and Xin.  She sees a process to become mortal, but it involves bringing harm to Jing and Xin.  Jing would like her own beauty restored, but the cost might be steep indeed.  The Tian Lang state would like to make inroads in Jing's kingdom; Jing and company would rather that not happen. Tian Lang's true motives are darker.

Resolution: One might guess how the film's climax comes to pass, but difficult choices are involved.  Are the principal characters up to it?

One line summary: Poor effects, poor script, so-so actors.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 2/10 The visuals are largely spoiled by effects.  The green screen composites were many, and looked fake.  The models used are not all that well done, and looked to be perhaps 1970s quality.  The credits in the opening sequence looked bad.  Clearly a lot of money was dumped on this project, but the effect was not worth it.

Makeup and wardrobe were poor, obvious, badly done.

  b. Sound: 4/10 The background music seemed overly florid.  The spoken dialogue was irrelevant to me, since I do not understand spoken Mandarin Chinese, and will not any time soon.  The subtitles seemed adequate, and not glaringly incorrect.  The +4 is for the lovely music over the closing credits.

  c. Acting: 0/10 I've seen American directors get better results from unknown actors.  Having to watch the dreary performances of the actors who played the fox, the princess, the warrior, the bird, and the Tian Lang folk was drudgery.

  d. Screenplay: 1/10 Did I identify with any of the characters? No.  Did I empathise with any of the characters?  No.  Did I like any of the characters?  No.  Were the Tian Lang opposition members (the bad guys) interesting? No.  Was there any comic relief?  No.  Did I enjoy 30 minutes of plot being stretched over 131 minutes with this uninteresting group?  No.

Final rating: 1/10, though not that good.  I am usually a fan of Asian film, and this property received much critical praise.  For the reasons given above, I think it deserves little if any.

20151204: Horror Review--Wolves

Name: Wolves (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Horror.    Country of Origin: Canada.

Cast: Lucas Till (X-Men 2011, 2014; Stoker) as Cayden Richards, Stephen McHattie (Haunter, 300) as John Tollerman, John Pyper-Ferguson (Drive, Unforgiven) as Wild Joe, Jason Momoa as Connory Slaughter, Merritt Patterson as Angelina Timmins, Janet Laine-Green as Clara Tollerman.

Written and directed by:  David Hayter.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Cayden starts out as a high school quarterback with a fine girlfriend.  Things devolve quickly for him.  His behaviour on the field brings up questions.  When the girlfriend suggests having sex in her car, his arousal triggers something else, and she runs screaming.  He returns to his home only to awake with his parents dead and blood on his hands.

While the cops attempt to get enough evidence on him to put him away, Cayden hits the road.  He eventually meets Wild Joe at a bar, and Wild Joe points him to Lupine Ridge.

Delineation of conflicts: Cayden wants to know more about who he is, and why he goes through these changes.  The people in Lupine Ridge know some of the answers, but do not give them up all that easily.  A gang in town is rather monopolistic about who holds what power in and around the town, and Cayden does not fit in that scheme.  The people in the town and the gang outside of town have only an uneasy peace, and law enforcement seldom spends any time in the area.

Resolution: Cayden needs to uncover and resolve the tension between the town folk and the gang.

One line summary: So-so werewolf film; bad acting.

Statistics:
  a. Cinematography: 6/10 Professional looking, but not all that exciting.  Some of the wolf costumes were nice to look at, but did not help in the matter of building menace.

  b. Sound: 5/10 Dialogue capture and playback was fine.  The background music was too weak for building tension. The music over the credits was so damned horrible that 7 became a 5.

  c. Acting: 4/10 Stephen McHattie and John Pyper-Ferguson were fine as usual.  On the other hand, Jason Momoa was in the film, and he is one of the worst actors ever.  The rest of the cast was uninteresting at best.

  d. Screenplay: 4/10  Did I identify or empathise with any of the characters?  No.  Was there a story to follow?  Yes, but the dialogue was poor on the whole.

Final rating: 5/10