The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) – R. Corman

The last of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations (this one drawn from an early 1838 tale), again starring Vincent Price but this time written by Robert Towne (later famous for Chinatown).  Price plays Verden Fell who we meet when he is still grieving the death of his wife, Ligeia; he wears strange sunglasses due to a recent attack of light sensitivity. Fell lives in a dilapidated abbey with just his manservant for company, aside from a stray black cat (of course!) who acts as though she owns the place.  The cat may be possessed by the spirit of Ligeia – and certainly acts jealously when Fell starts a new romance with The Lady Rowena Travanion (Elizabeth Shepherd, who also plays Ligeia). After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry, travel Europe for their honeymoon, but return to the abbey, where Fell begins to act mysteriously, disappearing at night when Rowena is asleep. When a family friend digs up Ligeia’s grave to find it empty, all signs point to necrophilia (!!!). Things get pretty crazy from that point and it’s hard to know whether Fell is hallucinating or something supernatural is going on. At any rate, it doesn’t end well.  But, as with Corman’s other Poe releases, it’s a handsomely mounted B-film with that creepy feel.

 

Red Rocket (2021)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Red Rocket (2021) – S. Baker

I’ve enjoyed the movies I’ve seen by director Sean Baker (Tangerine, 2015; The Florida Project, 2017) but admit that they may not be for everyone.  This is probably even more true of his latest release, Red Rocket (2021), which stars Simon Rex, as an out-of-work porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown to try to get his life back together. Baker’s films generally take a sympathetic but clear-eyed view of people on the fringe of society, those who are struggling to make ends meet. But Mikey (Rex) is a different breed of protagonist: he’s charismatic but self-absorbed, unattuned to the feelings and needs of others, and just plain wrong-headed. He descends on his ex-wife (also an ex-porn star) and her mum, offering to contribute to the rent (which, failing to find a job due to an inexplicable resumé, he manages by selling weed, still illegal in Texas when the film takes place in 2016). And while it seems at first that Mikey and Lexi (Bree Elrod) might get back together after their long estrangement, Mikey soon finds himself infatuated with a teenage donut store worker (Suzanna Son) and dreams of using her to make his way back into the adult film industry. Similar to other Baker movies, a real sense of place is developed in the film, with Mikey riding a bike around the poor and industrial locations, often at twilight. Occasionally, we see him in repose, potentially weighing things up. But, more often than not, he is talking, talking, talking, and hustling, hustling, hustling. The film might be a comedy but only for the ridiculous situations that Mikey gets himself into -- which also leave a sour or even bitter aftertaste (and consequences, for others, if not for himself). In the end, Baker probably lets things run on too long, with some redundant scenes and too much unnecessary chatter about porn. The result is an interesting character study but not as poignant (or funny) as might have been intended.

Further reflections:  If I made it sound as though Mikey is able to reflect on his actions, that's dead wrong. Instead, he seems extraordinarily self-unaware.  Moreover, with all the shots of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign inserted in the film, I have the feeling that Baker has intended to make a connection between Mikey's insularity (you can't even call it shamelessness) and that of Trump, his followers, or perhaps even America as a whole. An inability to think beyond immediate self-interest or gratification and about the consequences of one's actions might be one of the target's here.

 

Alligator (1980)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Alligator (1980) – L. Teague

Robert Forster is an endearing hero in this low budget Jaws-knockoff notable for its screenplay by John Sayles (who used his fee to finance his early independent features). Perhaps because of that screenplay, the film doesn’t take itself seriously, sporting a very fake animatronic gator and the occasional ridiculously gruesome bite effects (that’s what you came for, right?).  The plot revolves around a pet baby alligator flushed down the toilet, Big Pharma flushing illegal hormones into the sewer, and the resulting toxic combo.  Forster is the dedicated cop who pulls out all the stops to find and destroy the gator, even after he’s kicked off the force and Robin Riker is the herpetologist (and love interest) who helps him. Everyone else here is incompetent and most get crunched.  Fun for a brainless night in!

 

The Shuttered Room (1967)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Shuttered Room (1967) – D. Greene

Based on a short story by August Derlath purportedly from notes by H. P. Lovecraft, the film seeks to conjure up a foreboding feeling of dread focused on an unknown (but horrible) creature locked behind a red door. A prelude shows us a toddler threatened by the (unseen) beast whose parents then meet their doom when trying to coax it back to the titular room. After the credits, the toddler has grown up to be 21-year-old Susannah Whatley (Carol Lynley), now travelling back to her remote island birthplace with her husband Mike (Gig Young) after growing up in New York City following the death of her parents. On the island, they meet a bunch of menacing rednecks (led by Oliver Reed, sporting an American accent despite the fact that filming was in the UK). Someone suggested that the film resembles Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971) and I suppose that’s not far wrong, given the threat of rape here, although Gig Young is hardly the right actor to act as though his masculinity is threatened. The film moves inexorably toward the reveal of the creature and ends with tragedy rather than horror. Dated for sure, but creepy at times.

 

Nightmare Alley (2021)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Nightmare Alley (2021) – G. del Toro

Once upon a time, I spent a while searching for a DVD copy of the 1947 version of Nightmare Alley (1947) to complete my film noir collection, given its high standing among genre aficionados. I also read the novel by William Lindsay Gresham during a period when I sought out and consumed noir source material. So, it was with some anticipation that I watched Guillermo del Toro’s new remake of the book/film (especially given that del Toro himself has become quite a good filmmaker, winning the Oscar with his last outing The Shape of Water, 2017).  Set in the 1930s, with its protagonist Stanton Carlisle (previously Tyrone Power but now Bradley Cooper) drifting in to join the travelling carnival, learning the secrets of mentalism and then striking out on his own with his girl/partner (Rooney Mara here) to great success.  But Carlisle is a selfish and greedy sort, always the hustler looking for an angle, and his cons quickly move beyond parlour tricks and into more dangerous territory. Del Toro and his art department do a fine job of recreating the late 30s/early 40s with a heightened (almost surreal) sense of colour and deco/décor. The actors feature period hair and clothes straight out of historical photos. The plot ticks over slowly, almost as though this version is a lucid dream of the 1947 film, with my recollection of moments from the earlier 110m film serving as signposts along the way in the 150m remake. The focus on human nature making us all suckers is an evergreen theme.  And it worked, until suddenly it didn’t. The turning point involves Cate Blanchett’s Dr Lilith Ritter whose partnership with Carlisle isn’t quite as clearcut as it should be – something felt amiss with the plotting here, even though it worked fine in the original. Then it is all downhill for Stanton Carlisle straight to the clearly foreshadowed punchline, which del Toro does manage with aplomb. Verdict:  It should be tighter, shorter, punchier with more noir bite yet it’s still worth a look to see how a modern master uses new techniques to refashion an old genre.

 

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Pursuit to Algiers (1945) – R. W. Neill

Twelfth out of the 14 Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone (Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Watson). Although the series was in decline (and sometimes hijacked as a vehicle for patriotic WWII messaging), this entry holds up pretty well (and I could not remember any of the details, including the twist ending, from previous viewings which may very well have been 40+ years ago). Holmes is invited (through a series of mysterious clues) to a meeting where he is asked to protect the heir to the throne of a European country whose king had recently been assassinated. To distract the enemies of the throne, he sends Watson by ship while he accompanies the prince by plane.  Some twists later, they are all on the ship and playing literal and figurative chess with a trio of bad guys (and numerous red herrings) who want to capture the prince and kill Holmes.  Watson is slightly less the buffoon here but still mostly along for comic relief.   Always a salve to a weary brain, the B-movie series.

 

Cry Macho (2021)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Cry Macho (2021) – C. Eastwood

Yes, Clint Eastwood is 91, so it is pretty incredible that he directed this film and stars as a washed-up rodeo rider; it’s set in 1980 when the real Clint was starring with Clyde the orangutan in movies with fist-fight finales. So, is the title ironic?  Is it really about the cock-fighting rooster called Macho or is there some deeper reflection going on here? Does Clint regret his contribution to the outbreak of “toxic masculinity” that subsequently inflicted boys and men?  His character does seem to voice some remorse, suggesting that trying to show some “grit” only results in a broken body later on.  That’s probably not enough of a mea culpa, but I guess we can’t expect too much more from this staunch republican (in what would seemingly have to be his last film). But even though Clint’s Mike Milo begins as a sarcastic and bitter figure (with not just a little of the earlier Eastwood persona), after he travels to Mexico and kidnaps/rescues a 13 yr-old boy for former boss Dwight Yoakam (the boy’s father), he turns pretty tender.  The film slows way down and lingers in a small Mexican town where a widow and her grandchildren adopt the old man and teen.  So, even though there is no doubt that the acting here is pretty subpar, there is something about the schematic script that makes it feel almost like a fable designed to allow the living legend to signal his true values (“do the right thing”), despite the fact that this script has been kicking around Hollywood for decades. It’s a fitting farewell and perhaps a riposte to those who still think that being macho is some sort of ideal (rather than a sad and sorry façade).  But really what’s with the chicken?

 

Who Am I? (1998)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Who Am I? (1998) – B. Chan & J. Chan

Late Nineties and Jackie is already in his 40s (and on the verge of his US breakthrough with Rush Hour, also released in 1998).  The film starts slow and confusingly – is Jackie a CIA agent engaged in Black Ops? He’s with an outfit that has kidnapped some scientists who are making a new chemical weapon of some kind. But wait, now his team has been betrayed by their leader, Jackie has fallen out of a plane and landed on his head and has amnesia.  He’s adopted by a tribe in Namibia and seemingly spends some months or years there (with the new name “WhoAmI”).  There isn’t much action in this first third but then Jackie is found by the CIA and brought to South Africa where he soon discovers that he is also wanted by the police (at least this is what we guessed).  Finally, there are car chases and then when the action moves to Rotterdam, a lot of excellent hand-to-hand kung fu fighting old school style with Jackie’s trademarked comedy.  Perhaps the film is lacking in big stunts or setpieces but it's refreshing in its return to basics.  Who cares about plot in a film like this anyway!