The Real Monuments Men

I sat down and started to watch

The Monuments Men (2014),

but I turned it off at the 40 minute mark. I went in to this movie blind, knowing only that is is co-written, directed by and starring George Clooney, with Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman and many more.

The movie is based on the true story about the Monuments Men, a group of art experts, museum curators and such, who were tasked with not only trying to preserve important art from the ravages of World War II, but also to track down and return all the art the top Nazis had looted.

Unfortunately, the movie is a complete mess. A movie has to be more than a collection of almost random scenes and up until I turned off the movie, that is all it is. It jumps around at will, inserting scenes that make no sense and then blissfully moving on to something completely different,with no sense of location of chronological order. It's such a shame with the actors involved as they are all really good and this is a story worth telling.

Since I want to use this blog to promote things I like, I won't say anything more about it, just that I do not recommend this movie. This left me in a bit of a pickle, as I still needed something for you. Then I was struck by an idea. Since the movie is based on a true story, there might be a documentary about the subject, and there are in fact many.

So, I present to you Episode 3 of Raider is the Lost Art: The Monuments Men. So that's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

The Weekend Murders

I heard of:

The Weekend Murders (1970),

and decided to watch it.

An old and very wealthy aristocrat has died and the family gathers for the reading of the will. One by one we are introduced to the relatives and quickly realize that they are very dysfunctional. The more you get to know them, the more you understand why they tend to stay away from each other. Only the demand of British propriety keeps them from being physically at each others throats. Soon after the reading of the will, family members turn up murdered, starting with the butler, prompting the tagline, “At least they knew the butler didn't do it... his was the first body they found”.

The Weekend Murders is an Italian take on an English murder mystery with comedic elements. The movie was shot in Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk, and as I was watching, I was momentarily confused. The entire movie is essentially a comedic Agatha Christie mystery, and as such we have the grand old manor, the old cars, gentlemen's straw hats, the usual trappings. But, we also have modern cars (for 1970), modern clothes and other similar trappings. It feels like they wanted to do a 20's Christie mystery but ran into problems going all the way. Instead of backing off that idea and staying in the current year, they mixed the two eras and for some reason it works. I can't explain it.

With all the murders around, the local police sergeant Thorpe (Gastone Moschin - The Godfather II, Caliber 9) calls in Scotland Yard. They send Superintendent Grey (Lance Percival) an arrogant investigator, convinced of his own brilliance, and together the two police officers investigate the crimes. This is where most of the comedy comes into play. Even though Thorpe is a clumsy heavyset man, he turns out to be a better investigator than his superior. Moschin to my surprise turns out to have some pretty good comedic chops. The Weekend Murders isn't a laugh a minute movie, but there were some pretty funny scenes.

This comedy stands in stark contrast to the murders, and the fear, grief and pain they bring. If they had made fun of the killings, I think the movie would have failed hard, but they manage to balance between the two polar opposites fairly well.

I have in my time seen a lot of movies and TV shows with the same basic premise as The Weekend Murders, starting with Agatha Christie herself all the way past Midsomer Murders to this very day. Still, I didn't manage to solve the case. To be fair, they don't give you all the facts, but I had no clue who the murder was, and I enjoy that.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes, it's not a superb film by any means, but it was fun. It has appeared on some lists of Gialli movies, which I can't agree with. It is very Italian, yes, but the Giallo aspects are almost accidental. The Weekend Murders is worth watching if you like whodunits and if that's your cup of tea, have at it.

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

 

Starfield, what is it like?

I finally finished the main story in Starfield, so lets talk about it.

Starfield, the latest game from Bethesda Game Studios, the people behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, is a huge space epic. You travel between planets, do quests, explore places and try to find out what the deal is with the Artifacts and the mysterious Starborn.

Now, I should point out that I live-streamed Starfield on Twitch, and only four hours at a time, once a week at that, so that is why it took me six months to get through. Not because it is that enormous or that I didn't like it. All in all, I have 200 hours in Starfield doing lots of side quests as well as the main story.

Back before the game released, speculation was rife about what the game would be and a lot of the speculation fed the hype without being based on anything true. Many visualized that it would be “Skyrim in space”, or “Fallout in space” and neither is true. Yes, the engine is Bethesda's engine so it feels familiar, but Starfield is its own thing, and must be viewed as such.

To be honest, Starfield is a somewhat odd game. After the intro, you are set loose on the galaxy and the only limitations you have is how far your starter ship can grav-jump, the games faster than light system. Every system has a level rating, an indicator of how dangerous the system is. It's up to you if you want to take that on now or later. That said, you can easily come across enemies that are much higher level than you in a low system, and you can run into low level enemies in high level areas. This mix means that combat is always exciting while also letting you feel powerful when crushing weaker enemies.

The gameplay is smooth and plays well, like Bethesda's other games. The new kid on the block is dog fighting in space, which is a bit of a mixed bag. The game has no qualms about dumping three higher level pirate ships on you just as you enter a system, and until I got my ship upgraded together with some good piloting skills, I frequently had to lower the difficulty or I was stuck. That could have been handed differently as it was pretty annoying.

The graphics are really nice, at least on a stronger PC, and there were times when I just stood there and took in the sights. Some people have complained that “It's all gray and boring”, to which I say: untrue! There are many such moons yes, but come on, that is what you will find out there. Lots and lots of dusty rocks. However, there are also so many lush planets, filled with interesting plants and creatures. Saying it's all gray is like going to Winterhold in Skyrim and complaining that the whole game is nothing but snow.

Besides the intersting main quest, which I won't spoil, there is a myriad on minor factions you can work for and they were mostly top notch quests. Interesting storylines with good choices, fun loot to get and lots of trouble to get into. I will say that I don't care much for most of the clothes you can find, they were a bit lackluster in both design and function, but the important part are the space suits, which are many and varied.

Speaking of side missions, Starfield has an almost endless capacity for exploration. Sure, the caves are all similar as are the structures you'll find, but at least that makes some sense. Everything has to be prefabricated and dropped down on the surface, so it makes sense that most structures are the same as others. I did run into a base with a mystery story, and to my surprise I later found the exact same base and story on another planet. This shouldn't happen, but whether it was a bug or an oversight, it's not a deal breaker.

The skill system is a mixed bag for me. Some are clear and easy enough to upgrade, while others are a bit of a pain. I should point out that Starfield has a New Game + system, and if you choose to do a new playthrough with an old character, you retain all your skills, but not gear, ships and money.

You can also build your own bases, which is tricky. Hauling around all the needed raw materiel is not easy and the building system in general could be better. It's not bad, but there is room for improvement. Likewise, you can build ships. For some reason, you can't build a ship totally from scratch, you have to have one to begin with, but soon enough you can go nuts slapping bits on pieces and having a blast.

All in all, Starfield is a rough gem of a game. It has flaws, without a doubt, but I think a lot of people were turned off because of unrealistic hype and unfair comparisons to other games. I had a blast playing Starfield, and if you want a huge and fun game set in space with everything I mentioned above, you might just have fun too.

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

 

True Detective Season 4, Episodes 4-6.

Alright, I have finished True Detective season 4.

I am actually struggling a bit with what I can say without spoiling anything, so bear with me.

The entire season is very nicely made. The dark, the snow, the cold all feels very real. Nothing stands out as being cheap or shoddy, and while this isn't the most important part, it carries a lot of weight. Filming can't have been easy, and they receive full marks for the effort they put in.

The actors are likewise both well written and the characters well acted. Motivations work, and with the central themes of grief and guilt and how you deal with them, the characters actions feel realistic. You don't have to like what someone does, but you can still understand it.

My biggest problem comes from the supernatural, or should I say, perceived supernatural events. Season 4 uses the horror elements very sparingly, but to great effect when they occur. There is more of it than seasons 2 and 3 had, and where a lot of weird stuff in season 1 could be explained with drug induced nerve damage, season 4 has mental illness as a possible explanation.

My issue isn't with the presence of potentially supernatural goings on, it is that the explanations kind of ignore them. You get an explanation for the central mysteries, and it is a given that law enforcement officers are going to strive for a logical solution, but I felt that all the mystical elements were shrugged off in the end. Not entirely ignored, but pushed to the side, perhaps for convenience.

As this is True Detective, there are some very dark motifs at play. Season 4 does not shy away from these and a few are on par with or better than the previous seasons. These elements are exemplary, and I'm glad they didn't dig deeper. However, don't go into this expecting lots of these moments, they are also used sparingly.

The season is very female centric, and that can be a touchy point for some with modern media. I did not find anything problematic in season 4. All the characters are well balanced and at the end gender roles actually don't matter. There are other forces at work instead. I can't say more due to spoilers.

So, do I recommend this season? Yes. overall, True Detective season 4 is good. It is better than season 2, on par with season 3 but in a very different way. To no ones surprise I'm sure, season 1 still stands heads and shoulders above the others, and I very much doubt there will ever be a season of this show that can match it, let alone top it. There were a few scenes that I think were added only so that another scene would be more impactful. This is fine, but the way they were added felt a bit out of sync, kind of breaking the flow. No deal breaker by any means, but somewhat sloppy. To summarize, if you were okay with seasons 2 and 3, there is no reason you couldn't enjoy season 4.

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

 

True Detective Season 4, Episodes 1-3.

I have written about True Detective before. In fact, I have talked about seasons 1-3 separately. In summary, Season 1 is a masterpiece of modern television, Season 2 is alright but weak compared to Season 1 and Season 3 is better than Season 2 but not nearly as good as Season 1.

One of the things that made Season 1 so good, beside, well, everything, was the possibility of a supernatural presence. It is not confirmed and there is a functional rational explanation, but it could also be cosmic horror. Seasons 2 and 3 really do not have this and I think it is a big reason why they aren't as good as Season 1.

On to Season 4! Today we're looking at the first three episodes out of six. As of writing, I haven't yet seen the last three episodes, and I know nothing about what will happen in them.

This is the setup; we are in the fictional mining town of Ennis, Alaska, north of the polar circle. It is the end of December and the long night has set in. In other words, it will be pitch black for approximately two months. Snow, freezing cold and complete darkness makes for a grim setting and this is felt throughout the show.

Outside the town is the Tsalal research station. The scientists there drill deep into the ancient ice looking for new ways to understand cellular biology. Something happens and they are all found naked and dead on the ice. Investigating this mystery is Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and her police department. She is aided by State Trooper Navarro (Kali Reis), and lets just say they don't get along very well. In fact, Chief Danvers don't get along well with anyone. If you want to be more exact, most characters don't get along with each other. This is a central motif in the season, the struggle to live in such a hard environment, the local mine possibly poisoning the local water, the cruel winter and so on. Ennis is a tough and nasty place to live, whether you are a native Alaskan or not.

So far, a few characters have mentioned “She has awakened”, which together with what happened to the scientists an a few other smaller things, infers a supernatural presence. Of course, this does not mean that there isn't a natural solution, but time will tell. One character sees dead people to use the old meme, but it feels more like Twin Peaks than a straight horror production. Being only at the half way point means that anything could happen. I like what I've seen so far even though the constant arguing, yelling and negative attitudes grates on the nerves after a while.

The show is very nicely filmed, with multiple great shots throughout. The actors are good and the effects are fine. I have no complaints from a technical perspective, and only watching the last three episodes will set the seasons place in the overall show.

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

 

Gods of the Deep

Sometimes I look forward to watching a movie and sometimes I toss a dart and hope I hit something good. This week's dart hit:

Gods of the Deep (2023).

To be fair, I don't actually know if 2023 is correct. IMDB says it is, but Letterboxd says 2024.

This is a Lovecraftian movie, as in based on the Cthulhu Mythos started by H. P. Lovecraft. In fact it wears it on the sleeve, and dove head first in the Mythos pool. I wish they would have resisted the temptation to call the company Pickman, but this is something a lot of Mythos movies do. I don't know if it is a loving homage or a way to try to look clever, but movies like Gods of the Deep are not subtle in anything they do.

A deep sea probe finds a strange hole at the bottom of the ocean between Antarctica and South America. This area is deeper than the Challenger Deep and the hole is clearly not natural. The owners of the probe, the Pickman Corporation, as in Lovecraft's story Pickman's Model (1927). They contact Doctor Jim Peters (Derek Nelson), an eminent astrobiologist at Miskatonic University to help go down there. The Pickman Corp. has developed a new high tech sub that can handle the incredible pressures. A small team goes down there and things get... squiggly.

Gods of the Deep is a British horror/sci-fi movie with a low budget. I couldn't find how low, but the cutting edge submarine is visibly built from corrugated roofing, PVC piping, thin acrylic and all the hazard tape you could ever want. That's not to say all the effects are bad, they aren't. In fact some are actually good, just as some are pretty bad. To their credit, they stayed within what they could portray in one fashion or another. Not all low budget movies do that.

What keeps Gods of the Deep from being a failure are the actors. They all do a hell of a job selling the entire thing. You believe that they see what they are seeing no matter how it looks. What is funny is that I could swear I have seen four members of the main cast in other movies, but according to IMDB, I haven't seen them in anything. Spooky...

So, do I recommend this movie? To Mythos fans I do. Everyone else should probably find something else to watch. These fans should also have a certain love for cheese or they won't have a good time. Gods of the Deep should be a failure, but for the actors and the fact that they did the best they could. They tried hard and somehow pulled off a win. Gods of the Deep is not a good movie, but it isn't a bad one either. I had a good time, but I doubt I'll watch it more than the once.

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

 

What Have They Done?

This week I took a shot in the dark and watched:

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (1974)

Co-written and directed by Massimo Dallamano, this movie is labeled as a Giallo and Poliziotteschi combination. Personally I think the Giallo part is fairly minimal, and only really comes to play with a killer in black biker leathers, but technically the terminology stands.

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? opens with the police finding a young girl that has hanged herself. What puzzles the police is that she is completely naked. Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) is on the case together with assistant district attorney Stori (Giovanna Ralli). Soon they discover a sordid prostitution ring that pimps out teenaged school girls to rich old men. The biker in black runs around with a meat cleaver killing, and little by little, the case gets darker and more dangerous until certain unpleasant realities leads to a grim ending.

The subject matter is of course really unpleasant, but the movie handles it well. There is nothing seductive about any of it, not even the brief scenes of nudity that are scattered around the film. Speaking of nudity, the hanged body in the beginning is clearly a puppet, and a badly made one at that. I thought at first that they went with a prop to spare the characters actress, but she shows up in a flashback scene completely nude anyway, so I don't get the bad prop. There are many ways of faking a hanging without endangering the actor.

The director, Dallamano, has twelve directing credits on IMDB and 45 cinematographer credits so it is clear where his expertise lay. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with his direction, but that the entire movie has the look of someone who really knows and cares about cinematography. There are so many great scenes in What Have They Done To Your Daughters? that it becomes pointless to try listing them.

The actors are all really good, being mostly veterans. They know what they're doing and I have zero complaints on that score. The score is fine, and the effects are excellent. Speaking of effects, there isn't all that much gore here, but when it shows up it is There with a capital T. Because the blood is used sparingly, it becomes more shocking, which is nice.

What I found most enjoyable about What Have They Done To Your Daughters? is that I couldn't predict this movie at all. At this point I have seen a lot of both Gialli and Poliziotteschi movies and they, like so many genres, tend towards certain patterns. What Have They Done To Your Daughters? doesn't outright break the rules, but it circumvents a few of them very nicely. What is also really nice is that the villains, the people running the teens, make mistakes. They screw up and that is a refreshing experience. The tendency is to portray the people running conspiracies as infallible. Not so here, and on top of that, the cops are very competent.

So, do I recommend this movie? Oh yes, definitely! Despite the vile subject matter, What Have They Done To Your Daughters? is a top notch thriller that doesn't shy away from the nastiness but also doesn't glorify it. Thriller fans of all kinds should have a good time here, not just Gialli lovers. The movie hints at being based on a true story or at least based on similar events in real life. I don't know about that, but it does add an extra layer of grime on top of the existing slime.

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