Not sure about the title missing a question mark or the narrative jumps but overall a good solid film. I was confused for half of the story but gradually managed to catch up.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Summertime
(I) (2012)
Nice bikini girls, not much else
16 August 2021
Home with the flu, hopefully not Covid, I thought a nice comedy horror B-movie with a couple of gorgeous Spanish bikini girls would do the trick. The bikini girls were good but this was self indulgence at its worst. Sorry girls, somebody has to say it.
Viva
(II) (2007)
Stepford wife goes rogue
6 January 2021
I don't remember the 1970s being this bad. As I began to watch this, I thought "why?" Wooden or ham acting, twee soundtrack, garish clothing... and then, realising it's a parody, I began to embrace it. Leaving her mundane life of cooking and making cocktails for her husband, Barbi becomes Viva. In the style of Russ Meyer, her adventures include bad sex, nudism, drugs and a lesbian dalliance but always men are pursuing her. It's not a serious work and I admire Anna Biller's dedication to her art, having written, directed and starred in her oeuvre, plus baring all her charms for the camera, quite nicely too. I particularly liked the line of wigs worn by all and sundry, most looking as of made from polyester and looking through the credits I spotted "extra hair" which might explain how some of the cast were sporting what might have been merkins as these days everyone seems to want to look prepubescent and shaves their genital areas. If you like 70s style racy films, it's for you.
Free State of Jones
(2016)
Why can't Americans engage with their history?
26 November 2020
I note that this excellent, engaging, moving and disturbing film only grossed USD25 million. Is it too tough for Americans? The grim facts of how black Americans were and to some extent still are brutalised are brought to the screen in this recommended biographic cinematic experience.
Macbeth
(I) (2015)
Had to use subtitles
18 July 2020
Fassbender was excellent. Broody, ambitious yet tortured in the gloomy landscape; it's Scotland after all. I had to use subtitles because not only was everyone spouting Shakespeare but they were speaking Scottish too.
The Big Bird Cage
(1972)
Entertaining tosh
13 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
An inept band of revolutionaries decide to boost their numbers by organising a break out from a women's prison deep in the jungle of some unnamed country. Incredibly the inmates all seem to be no more than 30 years of age, desirable and always skimpily dressed, so who wouldn't want to recruit them? If you are a fan of ham acting, Pam Grier and young ladies in revealing clothing (Let's face it who isn't?) then this film is for you. Go on, you know you want to watch it...
Gateway to the South
(1981)
A grimy travelogue of 1970s Balham
5 April 2019
Micky Dolenz uses Peter Sellers' exposé of the highights and lowlights of 1970s Balham as inspiration to produce his own grand oeuvre. Somewhere a young Robbie Coltrane is hiding among the cast. See if you can spot him. A masterpiece of seediness which doesn't reflect the bustling 21st century multicultural gentrified town which Balham has become in the last 30 years. Love it.
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