krusadk Reviews

Imitation of Life (1959)

SANITIZED MELODRAMA

[3 February 2024]

A heavily sanitized film version of the book by the same name.

This was after all made in the repressed 1950ies America, where religious/superstitious nut jobs ran the country.

And the insane racism. Often the two were represented by the same people.

What resulted was a melodrama firing on all cylinders - and then some.

And, I suppose, as melodramas go, this one isn't half bad.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is: If you like daytime soaps, you'll enjoy this movie.

A heavily sanitized film version of the book by the same name.

This was after all made in the oppressed 1950ies America, where religious/superstitious nut jobs ran the country.

What resulted was a melodrama firing on all cylinders - and then some.

And, I suppose, as melodramas go, this one isn't half bad.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is: If you like daytime soaps, you'll enjoy this movie.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

Somewhat dated rom-com

[6/10 · 10 September 2023]

Some movies hit a nerve with the general public when released.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is such a movie - and critics and audiences alike adored it, it even got multiple Academy Award nominations.

All the way back in 1969.

In 2023 this movie is, well, frankly; Dated.

An slightly amusing, very talky, time capsule, if you will.

But not much more.

So, strap on for a trip to mainstream America in 1969 - yes, mainstream, since the events in the movie had already played out in real life a few years earlier.

This movie was cashing in on the whole flower power, hippie culture, which, by this time, in reality, was all but over (and died completely in December of 1969 at Altamont)

Cactus Flower, released the same year, is another example of this - among many others.

Ishtar (1987)

Even worse than its reputation

[2/10 · 3 September 2023]

So, I finally decided to sit down and watch Ishtar.

I mean, it couldn't be as bad as all that, could it?

No, it wasn't as bad as all that - it was worse, actually.

Here you have a comedy (not my description, but that of the people behind this turkey) with not even a hint of funny - and still, there is more funny in this movie than plot.

All held together by direction worthy of a blind and deaf traffic cop.

The direction and the script were both at the hands of Elaine May, by the way.

Thankfully and deservedly so, Elaine May never directed another movie after this.

Elaine May; The Ed Wood of big-budget movies? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Dune (2021)

It's like Star Wars - but pretentious.

[6/10 · 26 July 2023]

So, it's clear, that George Lucas ripped off the novel Dune, when he crafted his first Star Wars movie. On that there can be no doubt after viewing this here film.

Now, for everyone, who don't know, that the novel came out way back in 1965, this movie looks like a blatant rip off of the first Star Wars movie.

Whatever. They are more or less the same movie Similarities are too plentiful to count.

In a nutshell: Dune is Star Wars - without the fun, while Star Wars is Dune - without the pretentiousness.

So, the choice is yours: Fun or pretentiousness.

Side note; I'll skip Dune part two. Life's just too ... well, you know the rest.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Dated ridiculousness

[5/10 · 18 July 2023]

This movie, I'm sure, was something to behold 50 years ago.

Today, the special effects look kinda cheesy.

And the story makes little sense.

Like: Those firefighters run around doing ... something.

A helicopter attempts to land on the roof ... and suddenly explodes for no reason?!

The fire leaps across unconnected floors.

AND the most ridiculous of all: Apparently there are five (5!) million-gallon tanks filled with water on top of this, the tallest building at the time in the world.

We're talking 5,000 tons of water on top of a skyscraper.

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!

Anyway, they put some explosives to blow up these tanks, so the water can put out the fire (I know, beyond doofus)

ONE charge, by the way, which would, logically, result in ONE explosion, but (you guessed it, we're talking at least 15 explosions.)

I could go on ... and on and on and...

I'm sure Newman and McQueen took their big paychecks and quickly forgot about their participation in this SEVERELY dated turkey.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Best picture winner at the Oscar's? Are you kidding me?!

[4/10 · 5 June 2023]

The Oscars, as we knew them, are no more - haven't been for a while, actually.

Once they represented excellence, when they awarded truly great movies with prizes.

Sure, they sometimes missed the mark. Like in 1976 and 1980 (Rocky over Taxi Driver and Ordinary people over Raging Bull? - pleeease. But at least both Taxi Driver and Raging Bull were nominated)

Everything, everywhere all at once, Nomadland, Parasite, CODA, Power of the Dog - these are not great movies.

Hell, they aren't even GOOD movies. What they are, instead, are movies, that hit all the politically correct notes.

So, that is now the Oscars.

Not artistic excellence, but, as their new official rules state: The Academy of Motion Picture will disqualify movies from Best Picture contention that do not have enough black, gay and disabled actors in the cast and crew from 2024.

Actually, they have done exactly that since at least 2020.

Hunting Emma (2017)

You don't hear much good about South African movies. This movie won't change that.

[4/10 · 9 March 2023]

What do you get, if you take every single tired cliché used in 'young woman against a bunch of bad guys' movies?

Well, you get this. You get Jagveld/Hunting Emma.

1. Woman transforms from timid creature to Rambo in no time? Check!

2. All the guys (white all, naturally) are not only all bad with no redeeming qualities, but are also all morons? Check!

3. Said guys have plentiful opportunities to end her, but somehow don't? Check!

Etcetera, etcetera.

And, I kid you not, how do you end the movie? Yes, by having the heroine look straight into the camera - and then the picture freezes.

No, just no.

The Devil's Double (2011)

True story? Not even close.

[4/10 · 23 February 2023]

Irish Times journalist Eoin Butler and Sunday Times journalist Ed Caesar have questioned Yahia's various claims, including that he was Uday Hussein's body double, and pointed out that many of Yahia's activities since leaving Iraq in 1992, including his education, have not been verified.

In 2007, Butler interviewed Yahia and highlighted inconsistencies in many of Yahia's statements.

In 2011, just before the release of The Devil's Double, Butler commented that Yahia's stories about when he was Uday's double were "to put it mildly, far-fetched." After the 2007 interview, Yahia's ex-wife contacted Butler and told him that when she first met Yahia, he used a different name, Khalid al-Kubaisi. After the two married, she heard for the first time that Yahia claimed to have been Uday's body double, which she found "dubious".

In 2011, Caesar interviewed various people from the time of the Hussein regime. Although Saddam's purported use of body doubles was widely known, two confidantes of Uday Hussein denied that he used doubles. One said that Yahia was arrested for impersonation of Uday in 1990, and the other corroborated the incident, also stating that Yahia pretended to be Uday to pick up women. A private guard at Saddam's presidential palace from 1989 to 2003 also denied that Uday used doubles.

Saddam Hussein's former doctor and a plastic surgeon at the Ibn Sina hospital said that the reconstructive surgery Yahia claims to have undergone there was never performed. The doctor also said he operated on Uday many times and Uday never had a body double. A former CIA case officer in Iraq, who claimed to know every asset in Iraq at the time and had friends who were close to the Hussein brothers, had never heard of Yahia, nor heard of Uday ever using doubles. Yahia disputes these claims, saying that his very existence was a state secret.

Bug (2006)

Acting Showcase Masquerading as a Movie

[5/10 · 29 November 2022]

Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd meet in this movie, (which is really just a one (motel)room play with a camera pointed and turned on) - one actor on the ascent, the other actress on the descent. Career wise, that is.

And boy do they both chew up the scenery.

You can certainly see, why this movie is a thespian's dream - one actress using it as a showcase for a possible comeback to the top, the other actor using it as a showcase to GET to the top.

And they do do a good job.

As a study in acting, Bug is top-notch.

On the whole, that isn't enough, though.

Acting showcases are usually short - maybe 10 minutes. Tops.

This one is just an hour and a half to long. At least.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Greatest over-acting movie of all time

[6/10 · 22 November 2022]

And one of the most over-rated as well.

Then there is the stuff, that makes no sense - whatsoever. Signs of a lazy script.

Like: The crippled Joan Crawford character somehow stranded on the first floor for decades - with no means of being able to get downstairs. You'd think she would have preferred a bedroom on the first floor in the big house, but, of course, then the whole premise for the movie would be ruined.

Like: The tiny middle-aged Bette Davis character being able to schlep an unconscious body up the steep stairs - and a dead body down those same stairs. (Wisely, they don't show the actual schlepping)

And then the annoying daytime soap type incidents. You know, when the bad guy (girl, here obviously) constantly overhears dialogue, she wasn't supposed to hear, or when she shows up just in time to ruin the good guys (girl's) plans against her.

But the worst is the complete lack of thrills - horror, psychological or otherwise. This despite being labelled a psychological horror thriller.

Maybe if it was 45 minutes shorter than its 2 hour and 15 minutes running time, it might have made a passable movie of the week on a smaller network.

The Mist (2007)

Darabont embarrasses himself with this outing

[5/10 · 11 November 2022]

This movie is directed by the same guy, who directed 'Shawshank Redemption' and 'Green Mile'?

Talk about a time, when the phrase ; 'Hit and Miss' fits perfectly - 'The Mist' being the Miss.

The movie plays a bit like a 1950ies science fiction horror B-movie - effects and all.

Think 'The Blob' or 'Tarantula!' - if those 50ies movies had taken themselves waaaay to seriously and not been very entertaining.

Now, of course the crazy Christian lady in The Mist wouldn't have been in those old movies - in the repressed 1950ies USA; no mocking the superstitious. Actually, she seems like somebody from the 1950ies transported to the 21st century.

So, let's nutshell this Mist (Hey, if this was written in German, the movie would have been perfectly named)

Anyway, nutshelling: A 21st century movie reminiscent of 1950ies science fiction horror B-movie - minus the fun and entertaining bit.

36 Hours (1964)

GREAT IDEA, CLEVER EXECUTION

[8/10 · 18 October 2022]

A WW2 spy thriller that succeeds on every level.

It's June 1st, 1944. Everyone knows, the invasion of Europe is imminent - including the Germans.

What, they don't know, is the exact date AND, more importantly, WHERE it will take place?

So, the Nazis drug and abduct a US officer (James Garner), while he is on some spy business in Portugal.

An officer, who knows every detail about said invasion - and transport him to Germany.

Here he wakes up in a US army hospital in 1950 - 6 years AFTER the allies have won the war.

Or so he thinks.

Will the German scheme succeed in getting the vital info about the invasion from the officer?

Detachment (2011)

A Reality Gut-Punch

[9/10 · 14 October 2022]

A warning: This movie will stay with you - for a long time.

It won't uplift your spirits or get you easier through the day, though.

This is not a superhero movie, a fast food movie, which entertains, fills your belly, but afterwards has nothing to show for it - as in zero nutrition.

It's NOT that kind of movie.

It IS however a movie you shouldn't miss.

A type of movie all too seldom made anymore.

A movie you must watch. Trust me.

A warning: This movie will stay with you - for a long time.

It won't uplift your spirits or get you easier through the day, though.

This is not a superhero movie, a fast food movie, which entertains, fills your belly, but afterwards has nothing to show for it - as in zero nutrition.

It's NOT that kind of movie.

It IS however a movie you shouldn't miss.

A type of movie all too seldom made anymore.

A movie you must watch. Trust me.

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Dull and dated beyond repair

[5/10 · 12 October 2022]

I guess the film - and book - was of its time: Late 60ies, early 70ies - and the Vietnam War in full swing.

In 2022 it seems, more than anything else, dated.

Never mind that it propagates the Nazi propaganda of 135,000 dead in Dresden, when the actual number was around 25,000.

Plus the city was a major rail transport and communication center, housing 110 factories and 50,000 workers in support of the German war effort - and not a peaceful non strategic place as the movie (and book) claims

Then again, if you are trying to make a movie (or write a book) that is supposed to be a voice against war, using Nazi propaganda to do it, isn't the smartest thing.

Today there are hundreds of way better anti-war movies around.

Maybe it's time to put Slaughterhouse 5 in the dustbin of (inaccurate) history? - both the book and especially the movie.

The Stalking Moon (1968)

Traditional - and a bit dull

[6/10 · 24 August 2022]

Plays a bit like a 1950ies B-Western.

Now, it isn't from the 1950ies, but rather 1968, where Sergio Leone's Westerns and movies like Martin Ritt's Hombre have long since ushered in new and bolder times for the Western.

Hell, The Stalking Moon is only a year removed from Peckinpah's Wild Bunch.

What I'm trying to say is this: The Stalking Moon is just a bit dull - and the 6 rating from me is very generous, actually.

Secrets of Playboy (2022–2023)

Nine hours of nothing

[1/10 · 2 August 2022]

Wanna-be documentary filmmaker to friend, also a wanna-be documentary filmmaker: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to make a film about Hugh Hefner and Playboy, a film exposing some dark secrets, some terrible secrets?"

"Yeah, man - and now with Me Too it would be the perfect time too."

"Not to mention: Hefner is dead, so he can't really defend himself."

"Let's do it."

6 months into researching the film: "Man, there isn't really anything dark or surprising about Hefner and Playboy."

"I know. It sucks."

"Yeah, and we've already sold the movie to A&E."

"Well, we can just interview a bunch of the girls, the former bunnies, and then we just make the promos SOUND like Hefner and Playboy was full of shocking secrets."

"And we'll make the film nine hours long - plenty of room for commercials."

"Let's do it."

I Melt with You (2011)

Depressingly Good

[8/10 · 15 July 2022]

I guess a case could be made for the very specific demographic aim of this movie: 40 plus and male - oh, and if you have done a fair share of drugs? Bulls Eye!

Listen, this IS a good movie. A downer, for sure. Nothing happy-go-lucky to see here.

But you WILL have to have lived a bit to get its qualities.

Millennials, who's greatest movie experience is what ever Super hero movie is currently playing, need not apply.

Bonus: A killer soundtrack - maybe the best ever in a movie.

Bastille Day (2016)

Well made action thriller

[7/10 · 10 July 2022]

Breaks no new ground.

BUT: Idris Elba, Richard Madden and Charlotte Le Bon present a more than watchable trio in this tight, well made action thriller - making it well worth its hour and a half of effectively paced plot.

Violent Saturday (1955)

Average - at best

[6/10 · 22 May 2022]

Too much sappy melodrama, not enough of the heist - and of the violence announced in the title itself.

Strictly average B-movie, which shows its age: 1955 - and all the repressed sexuality in the US in those days are clear for all in 2022 to see.

It does have a fairly exciting last 15 minutes - including Ernest Borgnine as an Amish farmer (!)

Experiment in Terror (1962)

Top-notch procedural crime thriller

[8/10 · 8 April 2022]

An unjustly forgotten procedural crime thriller.

Tight, no nonsense direction from Blake Edwards of a script with no filler steps, words or action.

Acting is top-notch - and it is all set to the perfect mood music by Henry Mancini.

It reminded me a little of High and Low, the 1963 Kurosawa flick - only thing is, Experiment in Terror came out a year earlier, than that very, very highly regarded Japanese movie (!) Really, if you can find it, watch it - a very, very big 8 on the IMDB 10 scale.

Purple Rain (1984)

The music is it - the rest not so much

[8/10 · 26 March 2022]

The acting is horrendous, and the story line is silly - but the music.

The music!

The movie gets a perfect 10 for the music (and for the topless Apollonia) and a 5 for the rest - and an 8 overall.

John and Mary (1969)

Sweet enough

[7/10 · 21 March 2022]

Fresh off The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy and Rosemary's Baby, Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow were big stars, when this movie came out in 1969.

It is also far removed from those above-mentioned movies.

A sweet little romantic dramady, mostly taking place in an apartment, where the two stars do shine.

One big problem is the voice-over. Irritating and unnecessary - and therefore it only just sneaks to a 7 on the IMDB 10 scale.

March or Die (1977)

A movie forgotten - with good reason

[4/10 · 8 March 2022]

An international All Star cast in a spaghetti "western" filmed in Spain about the French Foreign Legions exploits in Morocco right after the first World War.

Sounds like it could be good. It's really not.

Terrence Hill, of European Trinity fame, seems to be in a completely different movie than Gene Hackman, while Catherine Deneuve clearly is mere eye candy and Max Von Sydow is ... well, I don't know what he is, to be honest.

While Hackman is deadly serious all through out - Hill does a lot of silly high Jinx.

I guess, since that is what made Hill popular in the first place, in the comedic movies, he did with Bud Spencer, the producers figured, we'll put some of that in this movie too.

The movie is also surprisingly slow moving with very little action. (There IS a lot of marching, so at least the title is spot on.) Instead, we get a lot of close ups of Deneuve and Hackman looking very seriously into the distance - while Hill is winking and doing silly stunts.

Again begging the question: Is this a drama, a comedy or an action adventure movie - or something else entirely?

What ever movie, they set out make, the result they got is a mess - and not a very entertaining one at that.

Silence (I) (2016)

Japan does NOT want European Christianity

[7/10 · 26 February 2022]

Thinking of the immense suffering European Christianity wrecked on other parts of the world, it would seem, that the Japanese were 100% right in recognizing the evil threatening their shores as early as back in the 17th century - which is the scenario of this movie.

If that was the message of Scorsese or if it was, as some have suggested, the opposite; Vis-à-vis the courageous suffering of Catholic priests in face of immense adversity is unclear.

A side note: At least Japan was spared the hundreds of thousands of instances of child abuse, that were to come in the places, were the Church succeeded in defeating all opposition.

Incendies (2010)

Here is what really, really bothers me

[7/10 · 22 February 2022]

Here is what really bothers me: On her grave stone it states, that she was born in 1949 and died in 2009.

Now, and I am giving the script every chance, let's say she is very young, when she has the first son. The actress is 37 at the time, but let's say 16, nevertheless.

That means we've now reached 1965.

The twins are played by 29 and 36 year-olds. Let's make them both 29 (even though the female twin mentions '35 years ago', when talking about her mother in the old country) That means they were born in 1980 and conceived in 1979 - when their brother/father was 14. AND, mind you, he was a deadly sniper for 4 years prior to coming to the prison - plus what ever time it took for him to remade from an Islamic sniper to a Christian expert in torture.

So, a 10 year old super sniper?

You get my drift here?

The ridiculous coincidences at the end of the movie is a whole other matter of contention...