EXTRATERRESTRIAL

8/31/2012

 
Low budget Spanish sci-fi comedy, not very funny. Nah...

GET THE GRINGO

8/28/2012

 
Get the Gringo? I'd rather get the bastard(s) who felt it was neccessary to cut away from close-ups over and over in rapid succession. Hey, editor, director, whoever, give us a chance to connect with your characters! There's no reason to cut so fast in a two shot close-up! Jeez... Mel Gibson is totally believable, and this is a perfect vehicle for him. Kevin Hernandez holds his own in this violent clever funny action-packed cigarette commercial/film set south-of-the-border. Love the narration: see it!

KILL LIST

8/27/2012

 
Nasty violent British art damage horror film featuring hit men, their women, and an creepy lot of satanists and pedophiles. No no no: unless you like that kind of thing...
 
Loving documentary about Phyllis Diller, and her final show. Not a ton of archival footage, but plenty of photos; funny: see it!

HUNGER GAMES

8/21/2012

 
It takes 67 minutes of exposition to start the games, but Jennifer Lawrence is so watchable, and her character so tough, I almost forgive this ridiculous film! 
 
Next destination on our time warp European Vacation are the gorgeous locations of this taut police procedural assassination thriller. Director Fred Zinnenmann adapts Frederick Forsyth's novel. It's so cool: loved it. 
 
Long, (six hours) beautiful, Italian, multi-decade saga about a family with two brothers on divergent paths, and the women in their lives; including a mental patient, (pictured) a member of the Red Brigades, a librarian/photographer, a judge, a school teacher/mother and a young daughter (who takes fencing lessons.) Loved it!
 
So much competition for my attention lately; Olympics, Baseball, an incredibly long Italian mini-series; The Best Of Youth (2003) and the constant soul-crushing job of looking for a job: stand by!