Short Night of Glass Dolls

I stepped away from Italian police movies and instead stepped back into giallo. A friend mentioned Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971) and the premise intrigued me.

I have talked about some giallo movies before. Films like Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red and Tenebre. All classics of the genre and quite enjoyable, so when I heard that Short Night of Glass Dolls is set in Prague in 1971 I was excited. Most giallo movies follow a fairly common pattern. They are set in Italy, there is a killer with black leather gloves, often some mild nudity and a varying amount of blood. Another trope that is quite common is that the protagonist is a foreigner, usually an American.

So hearing that Short Night of Glass Dolls was set in communist Czechoslovakia felt like a breath of fresh air. Something different. I sat down and gave it a go, here's the synopsis.

An American (told you) journalist in Prague is found dead and taken to the hospital. The doctors are puzzled by the fact that his body temperature is quite high even though all other life signs are flat. The journalist, Gregory Moore (Greg Sorel), is not dead and the movie is his attempts at remembering what happened to him through flashbacks.

His girlfriend (Barbra Bach) joined him in Prague but soon disappeared. Gregory was understandably desperate to find her and started an investigation with two colleagues, Jessica (Ingrid Thulin) and Jacques Versain (Mario Adorf).

That's as much as I'm willing to “spoil”. The investigation is intriguing and uncovers all sorts of things. The actors are good, and the atmosphere is good, creepy and foreboding. Oh, and the music is by Ennio Morricone.

The story jumps back and forth between what happened to Gregory and what is happening now that he is in hospital, trapped in his own body. The fact that the story is told in this format is interesting since we know something has happened to him, but we don't know what. Compared to a regular mystery this fact adds an extra level of suspense that is really fun.

The plot could unfortunately be used better. The disappeared girlfriend and the boyfriend hot on her trail is not exactly a new one, and at times the pace is a bit plodding. All the elements are there, but it could have benefited by some re-balancing. For example, the fact that it is set in a communist country really never comes up. Sure, there is police Kommisar Kierkoff, the man formally in charge of the investigation, who walks around in a black leather trench coat and spouts threats left and right, but that's all. They set the film in a country like Czechoslovakia and it ultimately matters very little, which is a shame.

There is also a strong possibility that Gregory is an unreliable narrator. This is a powerful trope when used right, but it is only hinted at. I get the feeling that the filmmakers were a bit undecided on what is actually going on in the story and intended to present several possibilities, but sadly they missed the mark, though not by much.

Overall, I had a good time with Short Night of Glass Dolls. It may seem as if I'm too critical, but that is only because a decent film is so close to being really good. I got vibes of True Detective from Short Night of Glass Dolls, and a short TV series could really take this story and run with it.

So do I recommend it? Yes, to giallo fans and mystery fans alike, this should be an enjoyable watch. For everyone else, perhaps give it a pass.

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

They paid HOW much?

What a week in gaming this has been. The world of gaming has been rocked by one of, if not the biggest ever story.

Microsoft is buying Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 Billion dollars! That is not a typo, almost 70 BILLION dollars in order to buy up Activision-Blizzard lock, stock and barrel.

This is of course not something that one does easily, it's not a carton of milk and a bag of oranges. It was different when Microsoft bought Zenimax Media with Bethesda Game Studios for $7.5 billion, as Activision-Blizzard is publicly traded. Zenimax was privately owned and even then, there was a lot of scrutiny by regulatory bodies to make sure everything was done right. With Activision-Blizzard being public, there is even more red tape to wade through. The deal is expected to to be finalized during the summer of 2023.

In case you are wondering how they can afford this, Microsoft is loosely valued at over 4 trillion dollars, so even though it is an astronomic amount of money, they have the cash to get the job done.

Of course this has given rise to an enormous amount of questions some of which have been answered.

What does this mean for the disgraced President and CEO of Activision-Blizzard, Bobby Kotick? Well, he will stay in charge until the deal is final after which he “will remain available” in his own words. Phil Spencer the CEO of Microsoft Gaming has said that Activision-Blizzard will answer to him directly, so that probably means Kotick is being booted, probably with a golden parachute. Many insiders agree that Kotick is being let go, particularly since his name is too tarnished, especially with the many scandals that have rocked Activision-Blizzard lately, and his complicity and/or failure to do something about them.

Why are they selling? This is speculation territory, but Kotick did already ask Facebook if they would be interested in buying but got turned down. The most likely answer is that Kotick wants to go out on a high, and a big deal like this looks good on his resume should he choose to go elsewhere. Due to the scandals there has been more talk than usual to kick him out and even Coca-Cola has been talking of removing him from their board. With the scandals in mind, Microsoft probably got a good deal.

How will this affect gaming in general? Impossible to say at this stage. What is known is that Sony, the owners and creators of the Playstation, the biggest rival to Microsoft's Xbox, lost 20 billion in market value in one day. The stock price is climbing already, but it must have been quite a shock to them.

As for games on the Playstation, Spencer has stated that they will honor ongoing deals, which means that games slated for release on the Playstation will still do so, but whether Microsoft will continue to sell their games on the competitors console remains to be seen. This might force Sony to become more PC friendly, but again, it is too early to tell.

So what are they buying for all that money? Well the list is too big for this post, but to skim the surface; Activision-Blizzard, Infinity Ward, King, Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games and more. Concerning games; Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush, all the old Sierra Games, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and much more. The last two are very ironic as both Crash and Spyro were Playstation 1 mascots.

Phil Spencer has expressed a love and interest for many of the older titles included in the buyout, and I for one would welcome remasters of the old Sierra adventure titles. Whatever this mega deal will mean in the future we can't yet say. Will World of Warcraft come to the Xbox? Will it be on their Xbox and/or PC Pass? We don't know. What we do know is that although monopolies are bad, Activision-Blizzard has been in such a sorry state for so long that for them and their titles, this can only be good. The other thing we can say for certain is that this has catapulted Microsoft to the top of the gaming world.

When I learn more I'll let you know, but that's enough for today. Join me again next time, and until then have a great and safe week!

Rabid Dogs

When movie fans hear the name Mario Bava they usually think of films like Black Sunday, The Whip and the Body, Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace. I decided to watch something else and instead watched:

Rabid Dogs (1974).

After a couple of box office failures, Bava decided to show everyone that he wasn't just a horror director but that he could do a contemporary thriller. Thus the sort of but not quite poliziotteschi movie Rabid Dogs came to be.

In an odd twist of fate, the producer became bankrupt and the ownership of the movie got stuck in limbo, so no one got to watch it until 1997. Apparently there exists at least two versions of it, with the other version being called Kidnapped. I think I watched the Rabid Dogs version and since the differences should be quite small, I don't think it matters. There is a rumor that Rabid Dogs was an influence on Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, but that came out in 1992, five years before anyone got to see Rabid Dogs, so that's is not true.

The plot in a nutshell is this; a gang robs a payroll and in doing so end up killing a bunch of people. Desperate to get away they kidnap a woman, Maria, but the cops know the car they're driving. So, they grab a new car and force the owner to be their get away driver. The man, Riccardo is pliant as he was driving his young sedated son to the hospital. What follows is a tense road trip from hell.

This is all I'm going to “spoil” of the plot. Of course there are multiple scenes with complications and dangers, but that is to be expected.

Rabid Dogs is shot on a shoe-string budget, so small in fact that they had to fire the cinematographer after only two days, with Bava taking over that job as well. Despite this, Rabid Dogs is a twisted masterpiece.

The film drags a lot at times, despite being only 96 minutes long but this plays in with the fact that it mostly takes place in a swealtering car during the Italian summer and mostly in real time. You can almost smell the sweat coming off the desperate robbers and their terrified captives. Everyone is a mess when the movie comes to a close and I felt pretty exhausted myself. I can't tell if it was luck or Bava's skill that pulled it off but he did it. Most of the film takes place in the car, or by the side of the road, which is natural considering the lack of money.

Of course we have to give kudos to the actors as well. Maria (Lea Lander) is brought to the brink of madness from fear for her life and her virtue, particularly as one of the bandits, Thirty-two (that's his name) is very keen on “getting to know her more intimately”. The robbers themselves, from the cool and collected Doc, to Thirty-two's cackling madness and finally Blade who has his own problems and temper to deal with, are well done. They are despicable and disgusting people but weaker actors and poorer direction would have plunged the movie into farcical territory. This is not the case with Rabid Dogs.

It's well shot, you can tell that Bava's experience served him well. I can't comment on the soundtrack as I can't remember it at all. My focus was on the people 100% of the time.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, absolutely. It is unlike the other poliziotteschi movies I've talked about before. There is no handsome macho Inspector to chase down and fight the bad guys, it is all about survival, both for the hostages and the crooks. It is a hard movie to watch at times. The violence is almost theatrical, but the threat of it makes the brutality worse when it comes. Any fan of thrillers should get a kick out of Rabid Dogs.

 

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

 

Two for the price of one

To the surprise of no one, I'm sure, I watched some more poliziotteschi movies.

First I sat down and watched Goodbye & Amen (1977). Set in Rome, Goodbye & Amen is more a spy movie than a true poliziotteschi. Sure the police is ever present but the film revolves around the CIA. From the opening where they are planning a coup in an African country to a tense hostage situation, the CIA has considerably more screen time than the police.

Goodbye & Amen is frankly amazing. Sure, the acting isn't always the best, but the story and how the movie is made is great. There are enough twists and turns to keep both things interesting and you guessing, but not so much that it becomes impossible to follow. As a bonus, all the loose threads are tied up in the end. It's directed by Damiano Damiani and stars amongst others; Tony Musante, Claudia Cardinale and John Forsythe.

The sound and music is alright as is the direction. This isn't a movie that needs dramatic sweeping shots, but the camera work is very well planned. If it was a car, I'd say the engineering is top notch. The beginning jumps around quite a bit but it will make sense later on. Unfortunately, I can't really say anything else without stepping into spoiler territory, which I won't do.

Realizing that I can't say very much about Goodbye & Amen except “movie good, go watch”, I sat down and watched Street Law (1974).

Directed by Enzo G. Castellari and starring Franco Nero as our protagonist, who is still acting by the way, Barbara Bach who three year later starred opposite Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, and a solid cast of other more or less familiar faces.

Street Law is the story of Carlo Antonelli, an engineer who is taken hostage at a robbery and beaten. Afterwards he feels that his self respect and masculinity is diminished and he decides to do something about the criminals. The police is fairly uninterested which makes his girlfriends (Bach) arguments about letting it go, unacceptable.

Carlos early attempts to investigate the underworld go poorly but he gets the hang of it and the story progresses to its logical conclusion. The interesting bit, for me at least, is that revenge stories are common enough, but Carlo isn't a tough guy. This isn't John McClane or Rambo territory, he's an engineer. What is less interesting however is that Carlo for all his intelligence doesn't seem to have much of a plan. He goes into dangerous situations with no clue of how to handle it and pays a steep price.

The cinematography in Street Law is amazing, as are the stunts. The acting is good but the soundtrack is pretty hit or miss. My biggest complaint over all, is that the story drags quite a bit at times. It's 105 minutes long and that is too long. A tighter cut would have enhanced the tension a lot and made for a much better movie. As it is, it's nice but it could be great. It falls short of the mark, and it is mostly the action scenes that carry the story along. The length could have been fine if Carlo had more of a plan but he spends a long time behaving like a bit of a moron in several repetitive scenes.

So, do I recommend these movies? Goodbye & Amen, absolutely! I may actually have to re-watch it. It is a solid top shelf choice both for a casual or a focused watch.

Street Law, yes if you are a fan of the genre or Franco Nero. He is a good actor, but the movie as such is a middle of the road affair.

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

Slay the Spire

Hello and welcome to the first Monday of 2022!

During the still (as of writing) ongoing Steam Winter Sale I picked up a game that I can only call fantastic, I'm talking about Slay the Spire.

Made by Mega Crit Games and released in 2019, I realize that I'm a bit late to the party, but as the saying goes, a good game is good forever (unless the devs ruin it later).

The game is tagged as a Rogue-like and a card battler. If the terms are unfamiliar to you let me enlighten you. A rogue-like is game that will kill your character over and over again, but in dying you unlock new elements of the game, letting you become stronger in time. Rogue-likes also rely heavily on randomly generated elements meaning that no two play-throughs are ever the same.

A card battler is simply a game where you play cards instead of clicking your mouse to shoot or swing a weapon.

Slay the Spire is set in a strange unnamed fantasy world. There you will encounter weird and alien creatures that you have to defeat in order to triumph. You gain cards and powerful relics as you progress until you reach the pinnacle of a spire and there you fight the boss. Once that's done, you go on to the next spire and so on.

There are a total of four characters to choose from but only one at the beginning. The others are unlocked as you play. There is a multitude of cards and relics to choose from and they too become unlocked as you progress through the game.

As it is a rogue-like, you will at times feel that the game is unfair. You will encounter fights that you can't win, but this is a part of the process. You learn how the bosses work, you start to understand strategies and card combos that can be extremely potent. All it takes is patience.

When Slay the Spire came out, it garnered a lot of praise for its game-play but the art style was polarizing. And yeah, I'm not that fond of it. Some folks love it, some hate it and others shrug and say “whatever”. If you think it is ugly, I urge you to still give it a try. Don't let the art turn you off this game, after a while, chances are you won't even notice it anymore.

The game is fun, no doubt about that, but there is something else that is very compelling. I don't know what it is, but when my wife and I started to play, (the game is single player, I was watching her play) we accidentally burned dinner a bit. The fries and meatballs were in the oven longer than they should have. I can't remember the last time when I've singed my dinner, but that is how compelling this game is, it sucks you in and demands that you play one more level, just one more...

I recommend this game wholeheartedly. Even if it isn't the kind of game you would usually play, I urge you to try it. It's on sale until the 5^th of January and if you really hate it, you can always refund it. The game is also available on mobile devices, at least on Android, but that is outside of Steam and I have no experience with that version.

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