A few reviews

[Vultural]

No apologies necessary. I probably could have been more specific.
Or omitted the Millennials reference altogether.
Yet they do seem to receive a lot of grievances, some deserved, more misplaced.
I often see them cast as joke butts or punchlines.
I'm fairly old, but the ones I work with are pretty industrious and professional.
So it was a pleasant surprise to see the Millennials pause their party and help "old guy" Pegg out.

[Vultural]

Last Train Home - 2009 - 7/10

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Excellent documentary about Chinese migrant workers who jam trains every New Year to go back to the village and their families.
Shows the sweatshop conditions of two garment worker parents contrasted with the lush village they left behind.
No preaching or soapbox. This is how it is.
Parents toil, making clothes for Westerners, so their kids can attend school and have a chance at a better life.
Shot in Guangdong before and after the Beijing Olympics, and before the financial meltdown in 2008.
An unsettling future if one can look beyond today's horizon.
Planet Antfarm.

[Vultural]

Kisses - 2008 - 7/10

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Dylan and Kylie live in dysfunctional households. One endures physical violence, the other abuse of another sort.
One afternoon, they flee and hop a ferry to Dublin. (Yes, a road movie of sorts.)
Fun under the lights, contrasts with predators in shadows.
Dublin proves too hard. No surprise since the characters are aged 10 and 11.
Another, more iconic Dylan appears in a white hat and offers advice.
A small gem.
Those with sensitive ears - there is foul language galore.

[Vultural]

Scream And Scream Again - 1970 - 6/10

Man jogging in busy downtown London collapses from obvious heart attack.
When he wakes up, he’s missing a leg! Later on, he wakes up to another missing leg!

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OK, this film is about harvesting.
No no no. Next scene is in a fascist military regime. Spies and conspiracies.

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Quick shift back to London where police are chasing after a brutal killer who’s targeting women.
Couple other threads stack this entertaining, if bewildering, horror thriller.
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (don’t blink) headline a strong cast.
There is a too much going on. Defenders say filmmakers decided viewers were smart enough to connect the storylines. It seems a pieced together job, nonetheless.
The pace is rarely dull, there is nudity, chases, bloody killings, and enough plot jumps to keep your head spinning.
Not a great horror film by a longshot, but contains memorable scenes.
The jogger/patient is quietly unsettling.

[Vultural]

Departures - 2008 - 7/10

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After the orchestra folds, unemployed cellist returns to his hometown, where he had inherited his mother's small home / coffee shop.
He answers a Classifieds ad for "Departures" thinking it some sort of travel work.
Wrong.
Departures means the final trip, from this life to the next. His duties involve making the body appear as lifelike as possible so families can say goodbye.
Moody, quiet film, with peerless Japanese set design.
Academy award winner. Worth your time, unless the inevitability of death unnerves you.

[Vultural]

Strangerland - 2015 - 6/10

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City family relocates to small town oblivion and have trouble fitting in.
They had to leave the big city after their underage daughter got into trouble with a male teacher.
In the new redneck burg, she skips in skimpy clothes in front of new males. Making friends.
One morning, daughter and son have disappeared into the Outback.
Parents (Joseph Fiennes and Nicole Kidman) enlist the locals to start searching.
Dust and sand seem to be everywhere in this, and no one has air-conditioning!
None of the residents want to help those entitled city types. There is an undercurrent of class distinction and simmering resentment. Caught in the middle is the local cop (Hugo Weaving).
The married couple seem to harbor several dark secrets, of which only half emerge.
Brooding character studies, with mysteries partially resolved.

[Vultural]

How To Be Bohemian - 2015 - 6/10

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How indeed? Is there even such a thing anymore?
Three part series hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell.
First episode offers historical perspective of early 19th century Paris Decadents, popularized in famous book, “La Vie de Bohème.” Followed by London types, PreRaphaelites and Aesthetes, think Wilde and Beardsley.
Second episode focuses on Bloomsbury Group and the “bright young things.”
The first episode were creative souls, striving against social norms, working for success on their own terms.
The second were mostly rich, privileged souls with affluent bank accounts.
Third episode begins at the 60s, sweeps to today. Creative types followed by wannabees.
Bohemia commodified and sold to middle class and hipsters who hope “looking unique” is the same as “being unique."

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Numerous talking heads throughout. Some informed, some funny, others are aging, pretentious old farts.
Host Mitchell comes off as a bit bourgeois, though that is actually refreshing in light of affected posing elsewhere.
Poseurs, pretenders, limited sorts roundly loathed by all.

[Gaith]

Last Train Home - 2009 - 7/10

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Excellent documentary about Chinese migrant workers who jam trains every New Year to go back to the village and their families.
Shows the sweatshop conditions of two garment worker parents contrasted with the lush village they left behind.
No preaching or soapbox. This is how it is.
Parents toil, making clothes for Westerners, so their kids can attend school and have a chance at a better life.
Shot in Guangdong before and after the Beijing Olympics, and before the financial meltdown in 2008.
An unsettling future if one can look beyond today's horizon.
Planet Antfarm.

Aye, terrific movie. Makes our Western Christmas migrations look like breezy morning commutes. And that moment in the middle - anyone who's seen it will know the one - unforgettable.

[Vultural]

The Master Key - 1945 - 6/10

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Universal serial set in 1938, before W W I I.
Secret Nazis and Nazi sympathizers plan to buy up all the US manufacturing companies and corporations they can.
That way, once war starts, they will own the States.
To accomplish their task, they need money - lots of it.
Fortunately, they have copied the orotron, a device that can extract an endless supply of gold from sea water.
Combating this conspiracy is one FBI agent, one police detective, and a plucky female newspaper reporter.
Luckily tor them, there is an empty theater hall nearby, filled with juvenile delinquents who don’t like Nazis, either.
Fast paced cliffhanger with fairly good twists - the usual cheats, nice cast, inventive plot.

[Vultural]

Fantastic Mister Fox - 2009 - 7/10

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Fox "settled down" after he and the missus nearly died one night at the chicken farm.
Writes for the village paper (that no one reads), has angry teenage son, and a wife who holds him to his promise of no more stealing.
As a reformed character, however, he is dissatisfied, and longs for one final heist.
Three stages - three farms - three farmers.
One farmer, in particular, is diabolically clever.
Powerhouse voice cast: George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Owen Wilson, Willum Dafoe, Michael Gambon, Jason Schwartzman.
Based on Roald Dahl's book.