Sunday, 17 November 2019
The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950)
A young man is wrongly convicted and sentenced to be executed. Reporters covering the execution relate the story, each from his own perspective.
Ambitious noir B movie is interesting, but muddled by stiff performances and annoying religious overtones.
Friday, 15 November 2019
Kawaki (2014)
As former detective Akikazu searches for his missing daughter, Kanako, he soon learns she has a mysterious secret life.
Made with all the director's hallmark wild imagination and panache, this movie is not simply a downward spiral, but rather, right from the start, an exhausting visitation of a hellish world with no redeeming moments allowing the audience to take breath.
In the Tall Grass (2019)
After hearing a young boy's cry for help, a sister and brother venture into a vast field of tall grass in Kansas but soon discover there may be no way out...and that something evil lurks within.
OK supernatural horror doesn't do much to enhance its (implausible) premise, but does deliver some mild shocks along the way.
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Murder by Decree (1979)
Sherlock Holmes investigates the murders committed by Jack the Ripper and discovers a conspiracy to protect the killer.
From memory: Stolid and pedestrian Sherlock Holmes mystery has good production value and Plummer and Mason are well cast as Holmes/Watson, but the large ensemble of stars could have been put to better use.
Halliwell (no star): "Interminably long and unpardonably muddled variation on this over-familiar theme, with halts for the performances of guest star and no clear grip on narrative or character."
Maltin***: "Involved, often lurid story doesn't sustain through conclusion, but flaws overshadowed by warm interpretations of Holmes and Watson by Plummer and Mason."
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