The last post of the year.

Hello and welcome to the last Eccentric Sphere of 2021.

It's been a mixed year in many ways. Covid continues to bedevil us all but there has been many good things as well, at least for me.

I had a hard time getting my brain to formulate a thought on the subject, so I decided not to. There are enough retrospectives around if you like those, I just aim to entertain you a little bit.

So without all that much more ado, let me wish you a Happy New Year and a great and safe week. I'll see you in 2022 with more Eccentric Spheres!

 

  

 

Undecided

I had a hard time deciding what to talk about today.

I watched a poliziotteschi movie called The Big Racket (1976), but I didn't really like it very much. It's all about a police inspector who tries to take down a gang that runs a protection racket and commits horrible acts of violence against those they don't like. Parts, like a car rolling down a hill was superbly shot with the camera inside the car, and there were some nice action, but the main villain was lousy and the story as such made little sense. You could roll a car through the plot holes if you were so inclined. I realized that I can't really recommend it and if possible, I prefer to not blog about movies I don't enjoy.

Clearly this wasn't the topic for this week...

I also considered talking about how most of the AAA game company executives are keen to implement NFT (non fungible tokens) and block-chain technology in their upcoming games. In a nutshell, NFT's use the same technology that is used to farm cryptocurrency to create “unique” items in game, either for sale or to be earned through playing. These “unique” items can then be sold by the owner to other players for real money. The kicker is that the items don't need to be unique at all, just the code for this particular helmet makes it unique. It can look like every other helmet in-game. Sure, the items can be genuinely unique, but they still want to waste huge amounts of energy to create this market in order to cash in. It is incredibly bad for the environment and to top it off, they don't really seem to know what need or problem these NFT's would solve.

The backlash has been huge, with developers from the companies themselves like EA, Ubisoft and Take-Two asking their bosses what the point is, since microtransactions and in-game shops are already a thing. The bosses have no answers, they just mumble about “investments”, “metaverses” and other buzzwords. Ubisoft seems to be the keenest at the moment and are apparently planning on allowing players who own these items to transfer them from one game to another. Frankly, this is idiotic. Your fancy “property” is going to evaporate the second the game servers are shut down. Recently there was talk that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 would have NFT's until they realized the PR backlash and publicly stated that the game won't have them.

The NFT technology also raises serious questions about things like money laundering, capital gains tax, game companies holding valuable properties for players meaning that they might function like banks, etc. etc. Time will tell how this plays out, but they already had enough problems with children and loot-boxes. The defense then was that the boxes don't contain anything of real value, but the point of the NFT's is that they do have real value. Can children even earn them or what? Do they need to pay tax or does that get slapped on their parents? Some in-game items have sold for thousands of dollars already, so the potential is there. These are important questions that they don't seem to have asked themselves as they fall over each other to be first in a new gold rush.

Of course, this topic is a bit dull and negative, so I need to come up with something else. But now I'm running out of space so you'll have to settle for this comedy sketch.

Now it only remains to wish you Happy Holidays where ever you are, and I hope you will come back next time. Until then, have a great and safe week!

Bullitt

In last week's post about the Friends of Eddie Coyle, I mentioned that the director Peter Yates, had also directed Bullitt (1968). For a long time, I've meant to watch Bullitt, so I did.

Bullitt is a neo-noir cop drama about protecting a witness and solving crime. Story wise the plot is really nothing special. I found Steve McQueen as Lieutenant Bullitt okay but not that remarkable. Robert Vaughn as Senator Chalmers is amazingly nasty and slimy. So slimy in fact that when Vaughn tried to get into politics, his performance got in his way since people remembered how oily he was.

Beyond these two we have Jaqueline Bisset as Cathy, Bullitt's girlfriend and Robert Duvall as a cab driver. I don't think I've ever seen him in such a minor role before. All actors do a good job, the cinematography is great and the music is... 60's jazz. Good if you like the stuff. I think...

Where Bullitt really shines is in the influence it has had on the TV and cinema that came along afterwards. This movie became absolutely iconic in its time and I don't think it is unfair to say that Bullitt is the archetype for the cop who plays by his own rules and does whatever it takes to get the job done no matter who gets mad at him.

Bullitt's other huge claim to fame is the car chase that is still amazing to this day. Bullitt drives a 1968 Ford Mustang as he chases two killers in a 1968 Dodge Charger. Seeing these powerful muscle cars race around San Francisco is a treat. Keep in mind that there was no CGI at the time so the hairpin turns and jumps were performed for real. This movie is also probably the inspiration for multiple movies featuring car chases in San Francisco, with its twisting streets and many steep hills.

McQueen is credited as being the driver of the Ford but in fact some shots were filmed with a stuntman, the same stuntman who did the motorcycle jump in the Great Escape – Bud Ekins. When McQueen found out, he was furious as he had gotten quite a bit of flak for not doing the jump himself.

The driver of the Dodge was Bill Hickman, an experienced stunt-driver and racer. Hickman was a good friend of James Dean and was in fact the one who pulled Dean's body out of the crashed Porsche Spyder that killed him.

I could go on listing interesting facts about this movie like how there were no sets built. All scenes were shot on location. The Mayor of San Francisco was keen to promote his city as a film location and the crew got to shut down streets for hours at a time. They even got a hospital wing to film in. The only request that got turned down was to film on Golden Gate bridge.

I said I could go on, but why bother? Check the humongous trivia page on IMDB if you want to know even more. Okay, one more. Bullitt is often credited as being the first movie where the word “Bullshit” was uttered, but it is in fact the second. The first is In Cold Blood (1967).

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, I suppose so. It is a classic and there is nothing wrong with it. If all you care about is the car chase, you can see it on Youtube. Beyond that, movie buffs need to see it but I don't think it's any great loss if you skip it. Again, there is not anything really wrong with it, but I don't think it quite lives up to the enormous reputation it has.

 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

I had heard the title before, but when a friend talked about this movie, I sat down and watched it the following day. The subject of this week is The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973). Based on the debut novel of the same name by George V. Higgins, this movie stars Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan and Steven Keats. It's directed by Peter Yeats who also directed the Steve McQueen classic Bullit.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a study in tense atmosphere. We follow the titular Eddie (Mitchum), a small time crook who is getting both old and nowhere fast. He is connected but unimportant. He knows how the game is played but isn't successful. He is known to be solid and is mostly used to supply guns to those who need them, but now he's looking at prison time and he's not sure he can do it. The question is what he can do to stay free.

His main clients are a trio of disciplined and clever bank robbers, one of whom is played by Alex Rocco, best know as Moe Greene in The Godfather. The other important character is the young hotshot gunrunner Jackie Brown. If the name is familiar it is because The Friends of Eddie Coyle had a big influence on Quentin Tarantino, who named one of his movies Jackie Brown.

This movie is pretty slow in many ways, but never boring. Don't go into this expecting a lot of fast paced action. It's a slow intense burn, and it burns all the hotter for it. The tension is thick enough to carve with a knife in several scenes and even when the movie relaxes a bit, it is still strained. You can never really relax and everyone is constantly guarded and ready for the worst.

Set and shot in Boston during the fall, everything feels cold, tired and miserable. Add to this Mitchum's wonderful portrayal as Eddie, who goes from tough and intimidating to cajoling and almost but not quite pleading. The end result is a movie that should be absolutely depressing but somehow isn't.

Even without the Hays Code I have a feeling that The Friends of Eddie Coyle would be just the same. This is one of those movies that really makes crime seem unattractive. It has no glamour or cool, only pragmatic business in a business where you can't trust anyone. To quote Jackie :”This life's HARD man, but it's HARDER if you're stupid!”

If I have managed to paint a picture of unrelenting depression and miserable suffering, don't worry, The Friends of Eddie Coyle isn't that gloomy, but it is extremely well made.

Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! I would have hated it as a teenager, but being (hopefully) more mature, I found it fascinating. It wasn't well received when it released, but Roger Ebert gave it four stars, it has a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.5/10 on IMDB. I suggest you give it a shot, I'm glad I did.

 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have great and safe week!

Low in calories but not in fun

Alright, I haven't done a funny commercials post in a long while. So, to rectify that here are five commercials for Bud Light. Mind you, I have no idea if the beer is good or not, I've never had it but they do spend a lot of money on their ads. So much money that I'm starting to wonder if they're compensating for something...

Either way, please enjoy these commercials. Sadly the resolution is poor in some of them, they are pretty old, but they are still pretty damn funny!

So join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

  

 

  

  

 

Black Dynamite

A couple of evenings ago I was rummaging around on Youtube, trying to find something I felt like watching, and that's when I tripped across a scene from the movie Black Dynamite. I originally thought it was an old blaxploitation movie from back in the day, but to my surprise it was made in 2009. Intrigued, I sat down and watched it.

For those of you who are unaware of what blaxploitation is, here is what you get if you Google the term:

“Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, then president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch.”

Now that that's out of the way we can talk about Black Dynamite. This movie is both a parody of, and a love letter to the genre as a whole. It also spoofs the kung-fu movies of the 70's as well as the whole cheaply made action cinema of the time. It in no way takes itself seriously and it must have been a blast to work on. They even intentionally do things like show the boom mic, change stuntmen in the middle of a fight, and a woman smokes a cigarette that is clearly not lit. There is even a scene where a guy looks back while driving and the rear projection shows him driving through an S curve perfectly. It becomes a thing in itself to find all the intentional goofs.

The dialogue is also hilariously bad, with lines like:

“Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!” or “I'd like to take the credit, but dig, mama, there's no "i" in "revolutio...", in "team.” or “These children are orphans, and orphans don't have parents!"

Black Dynamite is directed by Scott Sanders and stars Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite. White is also one of the screenwriters. His character Black Dynamite is the epitome of the badass superman. He can kick anyone's ass, and his revolver never runs out of ammo. All the women want him and his enemies fear him above all else. In a non-satire movie the character would be impossibly bad, but here it is perfect.

Having Michael Jai White in a martial arts role is always a treat as the man is ridiculously good at it. Watching him move is a treat just by itself, but we also get evidence that he can pull off a comedic role, which is something many action stars struggle with.

I won't mention the plot as I don't want to spoil anything, besides Black Dynamite is as much an experience as a story. Speaking of experience, I have often lamented that modern movies can't capture an era as long as the viewer can personally remember it. This movie does something interesting however. It adds a film grain effect over the whole thing, that together with the period cars and clothes, really makes it feel like the 70's. This is why I thought the clip I saw was from a genuine period blaxploitation movie. It's brilliant in its simplicity.

So, do I recommend the movie? Yes. Absolutely yes. Any comedy fan ought to like it, especially if you like spoofs like Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie. Black Dynamite is rude, raunchy and completely unapologetic. I had a blast and should you choose to watch it, I hope you will too.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

More crime action

I have a double billing for you all today.

Earlier in the week I was in the mood for yet another poliziotteschi movie so I sat down and watched The Mad Dog Killer, aka Beast with a Gun (1977).

Mad Dog Killer is a weird movie. There is no mystery, no conspiracy, only rage and violence.

A vicious killer, Nanni Vitali escapes from prison with some of his henchmen. Nanni wastes no time and goes on a rampage immediately. Foremost in his mind is revenge against the man who testified against him. Police commissioner Santini is hot on the trail and that's the whole plot.

What makes Mad Dog Killer stand out is Nanni played by Helmut Berger. He brings an intensity and insanity that is reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter, if Lecter ran around savaging and killing people like a hungry dog in a sausage factory. A person who is willing to risk anything to get even with you is terrifying indeed and Nanni is just that.

As usual I'm avoiding spoilers as much as possible so this is all I can really say. The plot is paper thin but that is all it is aiming to be. Fair warning though, Mad Dog Killer has a lot of violence in it, some of it directed at women, so if you need a trigger warning, this is it.

Over all, The Mad Dog Killer was entertaining and fairly well made. The only complaint I have is that the police come across as pretty incompetent, but overall I had a good time. Fun fact: Tarantino showed a scene in his film Jackie Brown.

However, with Mad Dog Killer being so simple, I figured we needed a second movie. So I watched Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976).

Here we follow Fred and Tony, two cops who belong to a secret division of the police in Rome who have license to kill. They ignore due process and people's rights and brutally execute criminals with no second though. They thoroughly enjoy their job too.

We follow them as they chase down thieves on a motorcycle (for 8 minutes!), foil a robbery and free a hostage but the central plot revolves around the hunt for a reclusive gangster boss.

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is an odd movie. Sandwiched in between all the action and violence is an absurd sense of humor that almost pushes it into exploitation cinema rather than the poliziotteschi genre. In many ways it feels more American than Italian, and it could easily be remade without too much fuss. It felt almost like a down and dirty James Bond movie, with the casual machismo and remorseless killing before hitting on the bosses secretary again.

Do I recommend these movies? Yes, for fans of crime cinema and 70's movies. Both are products of their time, and it shows throughout. I'd recommend The Mad Dog Killer a little less than Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man however.

Having now seen a few poliziotteschi movies, it is fun to see the same actors return in different roles. Two of the police commanders in Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man play mafia bosses in films I've written about previously.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Pub Wisdom

Today we're looking at the comedy of Al Murray.

Al Murray is a British stand-up comedian (amongst other things) with a degree in history from Oxford. His most famous act is the pub landlord, a beer drinking, opinionated know-it-all who is fiercely proud of his country.

It's worth pointing out that this is an act, and I have to point it out as I've seen people react to his jokes thinking he's being serious. He's not, even though what he says is mostly true, at least if seen from a certain point of view.

If you want to see more, here is the link to his Youtube channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGjQDPRA9zvdjEsSrdYUHVA 

There isn't that much more to say, so please enjoy and until next time, have a great and safe week!

 

 

  

  

 

First time fun

Hello and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres. Today in the interest of  keeping it short and sweet, I'll get to the point. Yesterday, I live-streamed for the first time, and I loved it. It was a ton of fun and I'm going to do it again at some point.

I played Fallout 4 with a bunch of minor mods together with the Whispering Hills mod overhaul pack. It essentially transforms Fallout into a foggy hellscape a la Silent Hill. Unsettling to not see where you're going to say the least.

If you want to watch the VoD, here it is: 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1192321709

Be aware though that it will disappear after 14 days, so if you're planning on watching it, do it now before it's too late.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week! 

  

 

Dark Waters

This week's movie Dark Waters (1993) is a re-watch. Back in the mid 90's, I watched this movie a couple of times and had in fact almost forgotten it until I read an article in an old horror magazine. Armed with the name and some vague memories I sat down and took a trip down memory lane.

Dark Waters is probably the first foreign movie filmed in the Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union. They were plagued by problems throughout and a crew member was nearly killed in a cave in. It was a seriously tough shoot for everyone involved but in the end they created an interesting movie.

Mild spoilers ahead, not that it matters in this case.

Our main character Elizabeth travels to a monastery on a remote island to investigate her own past, some cryptic clues left by her dead father and to figure out whether she should keep up with the payments to the monastery as her father had done. This is the only part of the story that truly makes sense.

For some reason a friend of hers had gone ahead which isn't properly explained. She wrote a letter urging Elizabeth to travel there but it may have been a fake, I'm not sure.

Once there, Elizabeth is welcomed by the Mother Superior and told that she will have access to all their books and rituals in order to prove that they are worthy of receiving further money. They assign a novice, Sarah to help her and guide her around. Then the nuns promptly try to murder her on multiple occasions. They never said she couldn't look around and they never tried to stop her. They simply go from Hello to Murder just like that.

There seems to be a monster trapped under the monastery and the nuns are fond of performing rituals on the beach, on the cliffs and in the catacombs, but we never find out why. Is it an obscure version of Orthodox Christianity, some way to subdue and contain the beast? We're never told.

The plot unravels and Elizabeth discovers a bunch of things while dodging murderous nuns, culminating in some form of climax leading to an unsatisfying ending. I'm all for not having the plot spoon fed to me and I don't need closure on every little thing, but a movie should probably try to explain something at the very least. Dark Waters apparently disagrees.

So if this is the bad part of the movie, what is the good part? The visuals!

Dark Waters is crystallized style over substance. The story is bland and uninteresting, yes, but the visuals from start to finish are incredible. In the beginning, the bus she travels on drives down a seemingly endless road bisecting empty fields. The road is studded on both sides by power lines whose poles mimic the long crosses the nuns carry, creating a foreboding religious vista as the sun sets and a storm rolls in. Scene after scene of rituals, crumbling corridors, a beach covered in dead fish, grim dreams and flashbacks weave together into an amazing visual feast that are well worth the tedious plot.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, to horror fans I do. It's little wonder that I remembered so little as the movie as such is forgettable but the visuals are a blood-spattered and gruesome joy. Non horror fans should probably avoid it as there is nothing for them here.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

A movie called Zeder

 I got recommended a horror movie called Zeder (1983) so I watched it and now we're talking about it.

Back in 2016 I wrote about The House with Laughing Windows by Pupi Avati and it so happens that seven years later he made Zeder. Zeder was released in the U.S. as Revenge of the Dead which is frankly a ridiculous title, designed to ride high on the popularity of the zombie genre which was running hot at the time. This is not a zombie movie.

After a somewhat baffling but interesting intro, we are introduced to Stefano, a struggling novelist who gets an unusual typewriter from his wife as an anniversary present. When it jams he discovers that the ribbon has some fascinating text on it and he eagerly transcribes it. It seems to speak of an experiment to raise the dead by burying them in special places full of spiritual energy called K-Zones. Stefano becomes obsessed with finding out more and goes on the hunt.

To go deeper we need to split the movie into two parts, what Stefano knows and what we know. Stefano spends most of his time talking to people; professors, priests, old ladies etc. and as he gets gradually closer to the goal, tensions rise.

What he doesn't really know but we find out is that there is a sort of conspiracy surrounding the K-Zone theory. It seems to be mostly academics but there are others involved from the church, the police and others and they are willing to kill to preserve their secret. It's interesting to see Stefano stumble deeper into the web without really realizing it. Ultimately it all comes to a head, except it sort of doesn't.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD

As is normal in a movie with this kind of conspiracy, Stefano unwittingly talks to members of said conspiracy so they are aware of his sleuthing, but even though they decide he knows too much and want to kill him, they really don't. The amount of people he knows that are involved in this plot is also ridiculous. Towards the end, it seems like everyone except his wife and four other people are involved which becomes pretty silly. Sometimes less is more.

SPOILERS END

The first half of the movie is really good. The typewriter idea is inspired and the mystery is tantalizing and you get a feeling of really wanting to know more. The other half however is pretty weak. You discover things that don't really have much of an impact, the conspiracy itself sort of goes nowhere with no real involvement, it's all kind of rushed and half-arsed. As an example, Stefano is investigating in an underground vault in a cemetery when someone locks him in. And then someone lets him out again. Nothing happened, he never questions it and it never comes up again. Weird and pretty pointless.

For this story to really work it needs more time. You see members of the conspiracy but you don't learn of their motivations, their organization or their capabilities. They just do what they want to and stuff happens. The ending also leaves some things hanging which is annoying. I'm alright with an ambiguous ending, but Zeder unfortunately leaves a lot of smaller threads unraveled.

From a technical point of view, Zeder is competent. The shots are very nice, the scenes atmospheric, the actors are solid and the music is excellent. What I didn't like is how abrupt the cuts are between scenes. People are having a conversation and they barely have time to finish a sentence before a new scene is slammed down in front of you. You expect a certain rhythm to this and Zeder just yanks you from one scene to the next. It's not a deal breaker but it is somewhat jarring.

Funnily enough, parts of the plot mirror elements in one of Stephen King's more famous works, but both that and Zeder came out in the same year, so it is likely a coincidence.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, for all its sins. Zeder is a solid horror movie with some really cool ideas. The second half is a let down, but they do enough to get the job done, even though they lose points. Any horror fan ought to watch it the one time. If I seem conflicted it's because I liked it and I wish it was better, the story deserves that.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Is he above the law?

 A couple of days ago I decided to watch yet another Italian crime movie, this time Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), written and directed by Elio Petri.

I have to say first of all, that this is a super weird movie. What we have is a reversed murder mystery, in that we know who the killer is within five minutes of the movie starting. It's not even a spoiler for me to say that the killer is the head of the Homicide Division. He kills his mistress and then fluctuates between impeding the investigation and trying to get caught. His ultimate goal seems to be to discover whether he is above the law. That is the mystery.

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is less of a thriller and more of an experience. It's absurd, ridiculous, interesting and at times perplexing. What it isn't is boring, it's much too odd for that. It is also pretty hard to describe, as you can tell.

The main character, know only as Dottore (translated as Chief) is played by Gian Maria Volonté, who is perhaps best known for playing the main villain in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars more. Even knowing this I had a hard time recognizing him. In the Leone spaghetti westerns he is dirty and unshaven, here he is extremely well groomed. What all three roles have in common is the madness he portrays so well. Make no mistake, Dottore is nuts, but there is method to his madness. Through a series of flashbacks we get a glimpse of his mentality. His manias and insecurities. We also get to know his mistress and her foibles. It all leads up to a rather satisfying story all in all, but I'm not a huge fan of the ending.

In case you think I've watched some obscure unknown film, it won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film as well as the Grand Prize at Cannes amongst other awards. The New York Times called the film "a suspense melodrama with the moral concerns of angry satire”. I guess that is true but I feel like I'm missing a lot of social context as well as a lot of the historical background. What remains despite this is how horrifying a police officer can be when the system is broken. There is an old saying “Who watches the watchers?” and this movie demonstrates what happens when no one is watching the watchers. Citizens have no protection against a corrupt police force when they decide that you are guilty because you'll do. Quite terrifying and the real center of the film compared to a “who dunnit”.

Otherwise Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a very accomplished film both technically and actor wise. It is well shot and many of the scenes are pure art. The music is by none other than Ennio Morricone and although it is a far cry from his masterful The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack it is both evocative and very good.

Do I recommend this film? Yes but with a reservation. If you are a omnivorous film buff or otherwise keen on Italian history of that time, then you are probably going to enjoy it. If you just want to relax and watch a cool movie, I'd say watch something else.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Fourth Protocol

 Since I was in the mood for a Cold War spy thriller I had a look around and found The Fourth Protocol (1987) starring the great Michael Caine and started to watch.

This was literally all I knew about it, so imagine my surprise and delight when the following names scrolled across the screen: Pierce Brosnan, Ned Beatty, Julian Glover, Michael Gough and Ian Richardson. There are of course many more but this is already a great cast. To top it off, the screenplay and the novel it's based on is written by Frederick Forsyth. We are in star country folks!

The Fourth Protocol itself is a fictitious part of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that states that all nukes must be delivered either by missile or bomber. They can't just be hidden somewhere and detonated.

Mild Spoilers ahead.

Alright, so Caine plays John Preston, a free wheeling MI5 officer who despite his attitude gets results. He is on the outs with his boss, acting director Brian Harcourt-Smith (Glover) but the director of MI6, Sir Nigel (Richardson) likes him, so when Preston discovers a plot to smuggle an atomic bomb into Britain in pieces, his boss suspends him and Sir Nigel helps him.

On the other side of the plot is Brosnan as KGB Major Petrovsky, whose job it is to do the bomb bit. In fun twist, all but one of the Soviet generals are played by Americans. Usually when an American movie needs a Russian or two they employ a Brit, so the reverse was fun.

Despite the great cast and the general quality of the film itself, it has a couple of problems. First off, it is too long for how it uses the time. Clocking in at 1h52 it is a bit of a slog particularly since there are so many scenes that are superfluous. Most of the bomb parts are delivered to Brosnan without any complications. He just meets the contact, grabs the item and drives off on his motorcycle. Why bother with scene after scene like this when it leads nowhere? Put some excitement in it, please. The second problem is the nuke. Plot wise it is necessary but you know from the very beginning that it's not going to explode, and you are right. Something less over the top would have added a realistic fear of failure.

Michael Caine was an associate producer besides being the main star, and he said that quote: "We wound up with a wordy action movie which, although it was quite a good picture, and did fair business, never had the speed and pace of the best American action movies. So for long sequences in the film, we not only had a talking picture, but a lot of talk, and even worse, most of it unintelligible. I went there as the star and associate producer, and one might have thought this would give me sufficient authority to put my own strongly-held opinions into practice, but no chance. Even I, in my exalted position, wound up making a talking picture, when it should have been a moving one."

He's not wrong. The action is too poor to call it an action-thriller and the talky bits are too weak for a pure spy thriller like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. What we get is a weird hybrid creature that for all it's faults is still pretty damn good.

Do I recommend this movie? Yes. It is more of a lazy Sunday afternoon movie than a must-watch, but it is never the less worth watching. It could have been better but what we get is at least good enough. Besides, all the scenes that takes place in Russia are filmed in Finland so that is a bonus point for me.

That's that an all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Silent Action

I jumped back into the shadowy world of Poliziotteschi movies, this time with Silent Action (1975). The original title is La polizia accusa: il Servizio Segreto uccide, which means; the police accuses, the secret service kills.

The story starts with some arranged suicide/accidents followed by the murder of a master electrician who lives way above his means in a nice big house. The man in charge, Inspector Solmi smells a rat and he's right. A fairly normal murder investigation turns into a maze of conspiracies that includes murdered army officers, oil barons, the secret service, more murders, kidnappings and more. As usual, I won't spoil anything but there are enough twists and turns to satisfy anyone as long as you can follow the plot, which is a little bit tricky.

When Silent Action is good it is great but it has a few problems. On the good side we have solid actors, an interesting plot, an amazing car chase, some snappy dialogue and an overall great atmosphere. It is also fun watch an Italian thriller that isn't centered around the Mafia.

On the bad side we have several odd plot holes, some strangely clumsy foot chases, some needlessly convoluted plans by the bad guys and a truly unfortunate haircut.

The biggest problem is the runtime of the movie. Even though it is an hour and 48 minutes long, conspiracy stories take time to tell properly. A secondary smaller problem is that one really need a fair grasp of Italy at the time. Between fascists, communists, the mafia and corporate interests, Italy was a corrupt mess and it must have taken balls of steel to be an honest cop back then. Fascinating stuff though.

As I mentioned in my post about The Boss (1973) this story really needs a short TV series to really work. I really wish that someone at HBO or Netflix would take a look at some of these wonderful Italian movies and make a True Detective style show. One where every season is a separate story. Then you could get these things done properly.

As it it, Silent Action is a mixed bag for me. A fan of the genre or the time period should watch it, but I think most casual viewers might get bored. The ending is in my opinion the weakest part of the movie, even though it wasn't bad in any way. I don't know if they ran out of time or money, but it needed something extra, and it didn't get it.

Do I recommend it? Yes, with a maybe, as stated above. I enjoyed myself but was left wanting more.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Fantastic or Realistic?

Fantasy is a great genre and the perhaps most defining feature of fantasy is that it doesn't have to be realistic. The clue is in the name after all. As long as the fantasy is immersive enough and consistent with its own internal rules, realism can go hang.

That said, I find it incredibly entertaining to poke holes in fantasy to see what is and isn't actually possible. Obviously magic isn't real nor are flying, fire-breathing dragons, but what about shooting a bow from the branches of a tree? What about the old trope of tying a rope to an arrow and shooting it in order to shimmy across a chasm? How much money can an adventurer really carry? I'm not the person to ask, but I know who is; Shadiversity on Youtube.

He has indeed tested these small but interesting tropes and I figured you might want to know the answers. So without further ado, I present to you three answers to three questions.

Arrow and rope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv0a1m6gIAo

Shooting from a tree:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCx9byRQKA

How many gold coins can you carry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PmXf9oiNqU

I'll embed them below as well, for your convenience. That's that and all that. Until next time, have a great and safe week! 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The verdict is in.

 

The Apple vs. Epic trial is over and the verdict is in.

In case you don't remember, Epic Games decided that they wanted to keep all the Fortnite money they make on iOS for themselves instead of paying a portion (30%) to Apple. So, they broke the contract they had signed, got booted off the platform and then sued Apple in court.

During the whole trial, Epic tried to portray themselves as Robin Hood. They played up the narrative that they were taking on the evil monolith on behalf of the little guys. Claims that were completely demolished in court. The court papers proved that Epic was in it for themselves and no one else. The only upside for them at the time, was that the judge decided that Apple had to reinstate Fortnite on the iOS, although with no further updates and no cross-play. Right now it seems that the iOS version is five seasons behind and is hemorrhaging players.

So just the other day, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers handed down the verdict. In the interest of transparency, I have not read the several hundred pages of legalese, I'm relying on what news outlets are reporting.

In a nutshell, Apple is now forced to allow app makers to inform their users about alternative payment methods and they have 90 days to implement this. Opinions are divided on whether they have to allow links or buttons that take people there, or if it is only information. Interestingly enough, this has never been that big of a deal. You could always, for example, subscribe to Netflix on your PC and then log into Netflix on your iPhone and Apple would get nothing. So this isn't that big of a deal.

Epic on the other hand has to pay Apple $12 million. Not that much for either company but there is more. The court has decided that Epic really did break the contract, so Apple can boot them off their platform permanently if they choose to do so. Due to the fact that Epic has also sued Google, Fortnite is also booted from the Play Store. They also failed to get their own exclusive store on the Apple platform which they wanted. They got nothing except a big bill.

Judge Rogers also stated that if Epic had simply reported Apple for suspected Anti-Trust violations, they would likely have won and there would have been nothing Apple could have done, but because of their contract breaking, manipulative videos, and other histrionics, they lost and are now in a bad position.

Of course, Epic has stated that they intend to appeal, but what good that could do, I have no idea. Just before posting I saw an article on The Verge and Epic has appealed.  This case already pulled all of Epic's dirty laundry out of the closet (and there was so much) so what they hope to gain from an appeal is beyond me.

Finally it seems that several news outlets are reporting this as either Apple losing or Epic winning. PC Gamer reported this as a big win for Epic, but then again, they have been sponsored by Epic on several occasions before... Do the math. Ultimately both companies lost, which is usually what happens when someone sets a fire and throws the extinguisher out the window.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Houses of Doom: Wake me up when it's over.

 We are in the final stretch of the Houses of Doom quartet. We're finishing with Umberto Lenzi's House of Witchcraft (1989).

This time Lenzi directed and wrote the screenplay on the story by Gianfranco Clerici and Daniele Stroppa so I don't know who to blame for this lackluster snoozer.

The film begins with the main protagonist Luke running from someone or something with the sound of baying dogs in the background. He comes to a villa and enters it. A sound draws him to the kitchen where a hideous old crone is stirring a cauldron. She beckons him closer before lifting up his own severed head and throwing it in the pot. She cackles and he wakes up in a sweat.

It turns out that Luke had a nervous breakdown and is recuperating in hospital were his widowed sister in law Elsa looks after him. She's a shrink, not that it matters much. We find out that Luke is unhappily married to Martha who is “completely obsessed with the occult”.

Upon his release from the hospital the next day, Martha insists that they give their failing marriage one more shot by going to a villa she has rented. Can you see where this is going? I could.

It is of course the villa from his dream... Original, right?

They meet the blind owner who is living there as well, and he informs them that his niece Sharon will join them soon. Weird arrangement for renting a place if you ask me.

That night Luke sees the crone beating a priest to death in the garden, and he reacts by calling Elsa to come down and help him solve the “mystery”. Elsa does so and brings her teenage daughter Maria along.

Still with me? Okay, so strange things start happening and now and then the crone pops up and murders someone. In between this, Martha either walks around in a trance or then flat out tries to run over Sharon with her car. This is never mentioned again... Other happenings in this vein are sprinkled throughout the movie pretending that it means something, but it never does.

I'll not spoil the ending, but it made no sense. Given the name of the movie I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say there is a witch and she is evil. That's it, that's why lots of people got killed. If there was some other motive I completely missed it. It's evil for the sake of evil.

From a technical point, this is a pretty well made movie. The cinematography is good, and the soundtrack is on par for the late 80's. There is even a nice car stunt that has no relevance to the plot, but it was cool. The actors aren't bad, but the lousy dubbing kind of makes it hard to be sure.

No, it is the story that is the main failure here. The setup is based on having a mystery but they don't really do anything with it, it just solves itself almost by default. They make a lame attempt to show some “investigation” but everyone just makes assumptions and calls it evidence. The rest is loose elements of horror spread around to remind you that you are watching a horror movie. A snake appears, flowers drip blood for some reason, there is a blizzard in a cellar... Okay, the effects are decent, but the over all structure is pointless. I could understand the awful lack of a plot if House of Witchcraft was a gore and nudity filled shocker, but there is barely any blood and only one small scene with mild nudity so that isn't it either. Ultimately it's just boring.

Do I recommend this movie? No, not really. It isn't awful like Sweet House of Horror but it is dull, uninspired and boring, things a horror movie should never be. It's like an unfunny comedy.

Summary of the Houses of Doom:

House of Clocks – Good, worth a watch.

Sweet House of Horror – Awful, never watch.

House of Lost Souls – Good, worth a watch.

House of Witchcraft – Bad, just don't bother.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Houses of Doom: One star on Yelp.

This weeks entry in the Houses of Doom series is House of Lost Souls (1989), with story and screenplay by Umberto Lenzi who also directed the movie.

Central to the story is a group of five geology students and the kid brother of one of them, who have been camping in the hills doing a survey for their university. On the way back a terrible landslide closes the road. They find an old hotel and though it seems closed, the owner lets them stay for the night as it's quite cold outside. Then terrible things starts happening as the mystery unfolds.

This is in many ways a paint by the numbers horror movie, but with some neat twists on the theme of a haunted house. Everyone tries their best and the final result is decent enough. I wouldn't go so far as to call it good, but that might be expecting a bit too much from a low budget, made for Italian TV movie.

As it is Italian, the dialog is dubbed and fairly awful. Some of the actors are alright, but most of them were too green to pull it off convincingly. The kid brother is annoying as he talks like an adult and everyone always laughs at his unfunny quips, but he is nowhere near as bad as the kids in last weeks entry.

The gore is actually good, even though some of the kills are utterly impossible, but one can't let that get in the way if you watch a movie like this. Some things you just have to let slide. What is harder to let slide are some of the dialog.

One of the main characters, Carla, suffers from horrible visions of murder. Understandably this terrifies her which leads her sort of boyfriend Kevin to say “Hey, the doctors gave a good explanation. You're psychic!”

I don't know who she visited, but I doubt it was a real doctor...

Later on, when people have died and at least two members of the group are somewhere in the scary hotel Kevin again pipes up: “Wait, I'll bring the metal detector!” Of course, it turns out he needs it, but who stops to bring a metal detector when your friends are in mortal danger inside a house?

Finally, and a bit of a SPOILER here, at one point the ghosts manage to seal the hotel in concrete. Thick slabs of hard concrete that blocks all the windows and doors. I mean, I get that the story needs them to be trapped, but why concrete? It's the least spooky material there is!

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, to fans of the genre it's not a bad hour and a half. I was pleasantly surprised overall. Some of the effects are a bit cheap, but I get the feeling that Lenzi knew how to do the most with the budget he had. All in all House of Lost Souls feels complete and, I guess, honest. It's not a masterpiece, but it is good enough.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Houses of Doom: The Sweet House of WTF?

 

Last week I talked about The Houses of Doom – The House of Clocks. Seeing as I committed myself to watching all four films in the series, I watched the second Lucio Fulci entry: The Sweet House of Horrors (1989).

Okay, this is not fun for me as I hate tearing down the hard work of others but I'm not going to sit here and lie to you so here we go. Oh boy, where to begin? Alright, my usual unwillingness to include spoilers is not in effect here so if you want to watch this (don't), go watch it now and come back later. SPOILERS from here on.

The opening scene shows a burglar sneaking around a mansion, trying to open a wall safe when the couple who owns the place comes home. Because he's the worst burglar ever, a sloppy fight breaks out, ending in some patented Fulci gore and murder before the burglar runs away. We are then introduced to the children of the dead couple together with their aunt and uncle at the funeral of said couple.

These kids are some of the worst child characters in any movie, but it's not the fault of the actors, they only did as they were told. The spend half the funeral sobbing (understandable) and half popping bubblegum and giggling at the priest (ludicrous) going back and forth between both. We quickly deduce who the burglar/murderer is as he is the only one at the funeral who acts suspicious. What?

Once back home “strange” things happen, pushing the aunt to want to sell and move. Obviously the kids are against this, but when the real estate agent falls and breaks his leg the kids laugh gleefully and mock him through song, while he's writhing in agony on the floor. Again, what?

Eventually the kids parents manifest as ghosts and play with their children, but not before tormenting the murderer to insanity so that he jumps under a truck and dies. For some reason there is also a ghost dog that is otherwise never mentioned.

The aunt and uncle who can't see the ghosts are understandably worried about the kids so they hire a melodramatic exorcist. He in turn yells a lot, poses dramatically and finally picks up a magic rock causing his hand to melt as he screams in pain while the kids laugh and point. The End. Double What?

The Sweet House of Horror is undoubtedly one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I've seen some real stinkers in my time. The story has no focus. Is it a mystery who the killer is? No. Is it a ghost story? No, not really. Is it a... screw it, it's just sloppy, badly acted and lousy all around. When the killer tries to cover up the murder by staging it as a car accident, you can clearly see that the car is empty before it's pushed off a cliff. No dummies, no nothing. A different camera angle would have sufficed, but no.

If this had been someone's first movie, I could maybe understand, but Fulci had 55 director credits before this and 61 writer credits, so there is just no excuse. Even a tight budget doesn't explain all the crap this movie contains. I skipped a lot in the synopsis above, but it's mostly the children spouting nonsense. Nothing of interest happens after five minutes. Like House of Clocks there isn't really anyone to cheer on here. In a similar film you might root for the kids, but they are too unlikable and cruel. They actually rival the Bob from House by the Cemetery in terms of sheer irritation. 

Do I recommend this movie? No! The initial gore could be of interest to a gore-hound, but unless you are a completionist who absolutely has to see every Fulci movie, avoid this like the plague. It's only a horror movie in the loosest sense of the word apart from the early gore.

I really hope the next two movies directed by Umberto Lenzi are better.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Houses of Doom: Tick Tock

 I recently discovered a quartet of Italian made for TV horror movies called The Houses of Doom. These movies were commissioned by TV network Reteitalia which was run by Silvio Berlusconi before he got into politics.

The idea seems to have been to create a series of horror movies with a unifying theme in the vein of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt, but obviously longer. They quickly realized that this wouldn't work even for Italian TV due to the graphic blood and gore. The solution was to make them as regular movies and sell them that way instead.

Yesterday (as of writing this) I watched The House of Clocks (1989) by Italian Horror maestro Lucio Fulci. I'll be as spoiler free as possible.

The titular house is the home of a strange elderly couple with a crazy amount of clocks as well as some seriously weird skeletons in their closet. Or corpses in the basement to be precise. Along comes three ne'er-do-wells, two men and a woman. They drive a stolen car, smoke copious amounts of weed and steal to support themselves. They have heard of this isolated mansion and intend to rob it.

I feel I should add a trigger warning here: There is a scene where a cat is stuffed in a plastic bag and suffocated. This scene was actually difficult to watch due to it's realistic effects. Obviously no real cat was harmed but it disturbed me considerably more than anything else the movie has to offer.

The trio breaks in, things go incredibly wrong and then the supernatural stuff starts happening. Okay, minor spoiler: The titular clocks can turn back time but either because of some cuts or due to mistakes made, the plot has some weird holes vis-a-vis the reversed time. I'm mentioning it because the movie was a bit hard to follow at times. I advice to just roll with it.

With the time twists in effect it becomes a struggle for survival that ends in a, I wouldn't say twist, but somewhat deus-ex-machina ending.

So what did I think? First off, this is undoubtedly Italian horror. The scenery, the dubbed dialog etc. I may have seen a slightly cut version, as there are a couple of minor elements that I didn't see that Wikipedia claims are in the movie, but it was bloody enough and nothing major was left unexplained. There are a few really good shots that are both creepy and wonderful, so it absolutely feels like a Fulci movie, but more in the way of Fulci-lite. After all it was made for TV and shot in only four weeks. It shows but not so much as to be a problem.

Plot wise, this was an interesting variation of elements we have seen in many other movies. The sinister house, the intruders, the robbery gone wrong etc. It's not a question of reinventing the wheel but it is a very nice wheel nonetheless. What was odd is that there is actually no good guy here. There is no one to root for as everyone is awful in some way, which is either wonderful or annoying depending on how you feel about it.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised. I recommend it to all lovers of Italian horror and older horror in general. I had a good time and I'm looking forward to watching the other three movies in this series.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Bad times continue

 

The awful story of Activision-Blizzard continues.

I wrote about the sexual harassment, discrimination, frat boy attitudes, on the job drinking etc. two weeks ago, and I'm not going to repeat it here.

In the weeks since a lot has happened. The CEO of Activision-Blizzard, Bobby Kotick released a statement condemning such behavior and vowed that anyone doing so would be fired, even executives. (We'll see if that holds true). He also hired a law firm to act as a third party watchdog that employees can approach safely with such problems. The problem is however that the firm in question is WilmerHale, a company famous for union busting. So, the employees have protested that choice in no uncertain terms, particularly since there has been a lot of talk of unionizing.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack has left the company. One can only assume that “left” means “get lost before we have to fire you without benefits”. As the man in charge, it is obvious that this whole mess falls on his shoulders so it is possible that he is getting out of Dodge while he still can. Either way, it is no loss. He's being replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leaders of the company. Jesse Meschuk the SVP and senior people officer has also left Blizzard.

Several high profile sponsors have pulled out of the Esports leagues for both Overwatch and Call of Duty. Such sponsors include T-Mobile, Kellog's, State Farm and Coca-Cola. The last one is a bit funny as Kotick is also on the Coca-Cola board.The company has other sponsors who haven't pulled out yet, but time will tell if they also jump ship if for no other reason than to not have their brands associated with such reprehensible behavior.

As if it isn't bad enough that they are being sued by the State of California, Activision-Blizzard is also being sued by their own investors for failing to disclose that the state investigation was taking place. Since the investigation has being going on for the better part of two years, it's kind of hard to try to claim they forgot... I for one am looking forward to the fallout from this.

Twice now, there has been a group of investors who have tried to deny Kotick his ludicrous $100 million bonuses, but they have failed. Failed so far, that is. I can't imagine there is a single investor who is happy with the entire board of Activision-Blizzard right now. Lying to employees is one thing. Lying to customers is another, but lying to the investors is illegal and stupid. Some big heads may yet roll for this.

There is more to this story, so much more but I'm running out of time. Check out these articles if you want to know more:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-06/activision-blizzard-atvi-news-culture-of-misbehavior-festered-before-lawsuit

https://www.polygon.com/22613315/overwatch-league-sponsor-kelloggs-pulls-ads-activision-blizzard-lawsuit

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

Horror Parody Time

 Hello and welcome back to Eccentric Spheres! Today I have a ghoulish trio of horror parody sketches for your entertainment. 

First up is what it would look like if Wes Anderson directed horror instead of Wes Craven: 

Then in the style of  SAW, Key and Peele shows us how a positive outlook on life can help: 

Finally, don't get I.T. confused with IT: 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a safe and great week!

A bad time for everyone

 

Well, the you-know-what has hit the fan.

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing Activision-Blizzard for to quote BBC News “unequal pay, promoting men over women, and widespread sexual harassment”.

This story has exploded all over the internet, and I'll link a few articles below. In a nutshell, women at Blizzard have been sexually harassed, they have been refused promotion because “You could get pregnant”, they have been saddled with extra work some of their male colleagues were supposed to do, but they were too busy playing games or drinking to do it. They have also been subject to tighter scrutiny while asking for time off, something their male colleagues seemed to just get.

Some of these male employees have also been cubicle crawling (as in pub crawl) where they apparently drink heavily at work and go from cubicle to cubicle behaving like swine. There is even a suicide linked to this, but I don't even want to type out what led to that.

The list goes on, and it is at best a long term case of extremely unprofessional behavior, or as seems to be more likely, a widespread culture of harassment, abuse, intimidation and discrimination. You can read more yourself if you want to know more.

For me personally, I am disgusted, plain and simple. In situations like these it is always difficult to discern who is being 100% honest, who is embellishing a little, and who is outright lying, on both sides of the fence. Seeing that this is such a sensitive case, I have no choice but to believe the accusers. In response, I have canceled my World of Warcraft account, at least until the case is over and done with, and it's pissing me off. I wasn't done playing this lovely game, but I don't want my money to go towards someone who's more interested in getting wasted at work and harassing women, instead of working. If the situation is rectified I'll be happy to subscribe again, but as it stands, I'm out. This doesn't mean others can't keep playing, however. A choice like this has to be personal and it is not okay to give anyone a hard time for choosing to play. A game like WoW means many things to many people and some might only get through the day because they know that they can play when they get home.

This disaster also goes, in my opinion, a long way towards explaining the lackluster quality of recent WoW content. If people are too stressed, to distracted or just too plain drunk to do any work, then it's no wonder the game is going slowly down the drain. Don't get me wrong, I still love WoW, but the latest content has been extremely weak, and since some employees brag about being hung over at work, it is no wonder.

Time will tell what kind of ramifications this will have. The company's response so far seems to have been a case of “This may have been true once, but it isn't any more, and your mean for suing us” (my phrasing obviously). Meanwhile former Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime and former senior vice president of story and franchise development, Chris Metzen have publicly apologized for not seeing and stopping this from happening. Whether they are sincere or just covering their asses, I can't say. Blizzard's current President, J Allen Brack has circulated an email company wide claiming that he reveres Gloria Steinem and is against all forms of harassment and “bro-culture”. No one seems so far to believe a single word he wrote. After all, as the top man in the company it is his job to know what is going on and put a stop to things like this. The fact that he hasn't, pretty much indicates that he is either incompetent or okay with it.

We'll see what the investors think about this, especially if the company looses the lawsuit and gets slammed with a brutal fine. Either way time as always, will tell.

PCGamer articles:

https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-alleges-discrimination-sexual-harassment-and-frat-boy-culture/

https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-employees-denounce-corporate-statements-we-are-here-angry-and-not-so-easily-silenced/

BBC News article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57929543

You can easily find more if you want, just Google it.

That's that and all that. I was hoping to have something more entertaining for you, but it is what it is. Please join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

Arrows vs. Armor

 Hello and welcome to Eccentric Spheres!

I've been a bit slammed recently so we are keeping it short and sweet this week. 

It's no secret that movie makers take liberties with reality and medieval warfare is no exception. The following video is from Tod's Workshop and examines how effective plate armor is against period arrows. 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBxdTkddHaE

The Boss

 

To no ones great surprise, I'm sure, I watched the third part of Fernando Di Leo's crime trilogy, The Boss (1973).

The Boss is the odd man out in the trilogy, for a variety of reasons. First off, it's set in Palermo, Sicily instead of Milan. Secondly Mario Adorf is not in this movie, but the main character is played by Henry Silva who was in The Italian Connection. Thirdly, The Boss is considerably more brutal and violent than the other two. It also lacks any of the humor the previous two movies had, which makes it pretty dark in tone.

Silva plays Nick Lanzetta, a highly trusted hitman in the employ of Don D'Aniello. D'Aniello is at war with a Calabrian gang, who are tougher and more resourceful than expected. D'aniello also answers to the big boss Don Corrasco. By the way, Corrasco is played by Richard Conte who played Don Barzini in The Godfather. The war escalates, lots of people get killed and the tension ramps up as powerful influences demand an end to the chaos. Betrayal follows betrayals and Lanzetta is right in the middle, poised to take it all or get removed by a competitor. No one is untouchable.

Again, no spoilers. Watch it to find out how it ends.

What The Boss gets right is first of all the twisted world of the Mafia. Even the big dogs answer to someone else and the only way up is over the bodies of those who stand in your way, and you also stand in the way of someone else. The general atmosphere is truly excellent, the acting is good and the soundtrack is probably the best in the trilogy.

The script is a bit loose, however. Not so much as to really matter, but the story is a bit back and forth. Although The Boss is 100 minutes long, it would really benefit from even more time. A six part mini series would be perfect as even with the runtime it has, you don't have time to get to know the characters all that much and that is truly a shame. This goes double for the political elements between the different mafia groups.

As I mentioned this is a very violent movie. Most of the shooting is bloodless falling over, but there are a couple of scenes that warms the heart of an old gore-hound. There is also some scenes that could well cause discomfort in sensitive people, so keep that in mind.

There is one scene that really made my eyebrows go up. A car T-bones another and the hit car falls apart, neatly bisected down the middle. This was so weirdly out of place I had to rewind and double check I wasn't hallucinating. In an otherwise gritty and grim movie, it is a real mistake to have a scene that clumsy.

Without going into spoiler trilogy I can say that The Boss was a joy to watch. It can stand amongst the greats in the crime/mafia genre with its head high. Sure Goodfellas beats it handily, but that isn't really a criticism, Goodfellas beats everyone. The Boss is a bit low budget and it has its flaws but overall it is a standout gangster movie.

In a way that isn't so weird. Apparently Di Leo was sued over allegations presented in this film, though the suit was dropped. He apparently also got threatened by some very scary people due to the realism of The Boss. Make of that what you will.

Do I recommend The Boss? Absolutely! Any fan of crime fiction should watch The Boss at least once. Other movie lovers can also enjoy it, but perhaps not quite as much. I say, give it a shot.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have yourself a great and safe week!

The Italian Connection

 

Last week I talked about Caliber 9 and this week's feature is The Italian Connection (1972), not to be confused with The French Connection or the Italian Job which I've talked about previously. Both films are directed by Fernando Di Leo and form two thirds of his poliziottesco (essentially spaghetti crime drama) trilogy together with The Boss (1973) which I've yet to watch.

The Italian Connection is about two American hitmen, Dave Catania (Henry Silvia) and Frank Webster (Woody Strode). They are sent to Milan to make an example of small time pimp Luca Canali (Mario Adorf, who played Rocco in Caliber 9). The big boss in New York thinks Canali has stolen a huge shipment of heroin, because the Milanese boss Don Vito told him so. Therefore Canali needs to die messily to send a message to anyone who thinks they can steal from the mob. What follows is a desperate struggle for poor Canali to remain ahead of the killers and to find out which of his friends he can still trust.

Obviously I'm not spoiling the ending.

Compared to Caliber 9, The Italian Connection is a far darker and grittier movie. Caliber 9 was by no means a pleasant stroll in the park, but The Italian Connection has more violence, particularly towards women and even children. There is a very bleak tone to this film, almost depressing. It also has more nudity if that is a problem for you.

Connection, like Caliber, keeps up with the fast moving close-ups, which I hate, but many scenes are more ambitious than Caliber, particularly the chase scene towards the end. Otherwise the cinematography is a solid product of its time.

The actors are good, the soundtrack is very 70's, and the plot is simple but interesting. I never got bored, but I was also never really surprised. Connection is solid but perhaps not that inspired. It amused me that Mario Adorf looks exactly the same in both Caliber and Connection,yet his characters couldn't be more different. Rocco is vicious and brutal, and Luca is friendly, affable and a doting father. He's also a complete badass, but that's a different story. What is also interesting is how several characters make really bad mistakes with severe consequences, which is something one usually don't see. It's actually nice to see some genuine screw-ups from time to time.

There isn't that much more I can talk about. The Italian Connection is not about the destination but the journey. Apparently the hitmen Catania and Webster were the inspiration for Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino is a complete cinephile and it's no surprise that he has seen this movie.

Do I recommend this movie? Like I said with Caliber 9, if you like older crime dramas, then yes, I do recommend it. I had a good time, but it is not in my opinion as good as Caliber 9. It is good, and it is worth watching, but I don't think most casual movie watchers are going find it to their taste.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!