Incisive as always, JJ. It's true, it's appalling, and it was instructive for us to be presented with such early examples of how our society rewards sophistry over sincerity. 

My understanding, Crumbs, is that public speaking is ranked near the top among people's deepest fears. Whether it's required in schools in other cultures I cannot say, but the dread of it seems to be a universal. 

I'm not scared of public speaking. If only I could get paid for it. 

Another delightful film from Karel Zeman in his inimitable fantastical, storybook style, though not quite as visually dazzling as his previous Baron Munchausen, due perhaps to this film not indulging in such an elaborate tinting process.  Instead, this film is simply a madcap farce of medieval conflict, specifically the 30 Years War where much of central Europe found itself in a proxy battle waged by France and Spain.  The particulars are of no matter to Zeman or his characters.  The war is just as arbitrary as the weather.  An early scene where our main characters are confused in the wrong uniforms is reminiscent of the Good Bad and the Ugly, another film where the politics of the fighting are beside the point.  The war could just as well be between West and East Germany for all it matters, and clearly it doesn't.  Python-level lampooning of nationalism and aristocracy.  Stands alongside Dr. Strangelove and Yojimbo as premiere anti-war satires of its day.

9/10





Jaromil Jires (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders) takes on Milan Kundera's debut novel, The Joke, a book which skewers the growing hypocrisy of communist rule from populism into totalitarianism.  It involves two jokes, actually.  The first is a misunderstood piece of sarcasm which lands Ludvik in trouble with the Party, and eventually into prison and military conscription.  The second joke has Ludvik taking revenge on his previous accusor, only to backfire and reveal his own hypocritical cruelty.  The book was published a good year before the Soviet crackdown in Prague in August 1968 (documented in Nemec's Oratorio For Prague), and this film from 1969 would be one of the first casualties of communist censorship, along with its peers like Daisies, Witchhammer and Larks on a String, most of them unavailable until after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

This is a fine film, and my only issue with it is unfortunately a fundamental issue as it involves the actor playing the main character Ludvik, Josef Somr.  Somr seems to be a well-respected actor, but I have to admit I find it difficult seeing him as some kind of Lothario, even by Czech standards.  Maybe I'm biased by the Unbearable Day-Lewis, the most common on-screen Kundera womanizing protagonist, but Somr comes off as extremely lacking in the necessary charm, virility, the kavorka if you will.  It's not simply Somr's rather plain looks.  I can easily imagine a Jack Nicholson or Robert Duvall (whom Somr somewhat resembles) in the role because they both have a spark, a vulpine cunning, that Somr simply lacks.  Instead, Somr looks like the sad-sack schmuck that he ends up in the book, but we can see it coming from the first frame here.  I have to say that he knocks the rating down a good half-point.

7.5/10
 

I know I watched The Black Room about ten years ago, but can't even recall my reaction to it. It was before I had really begun to truly appreciate these cheap things, so it's possible I was put off by it. But I know it made me react enough at a time that I wrote about it on RT, and that Wooley was the only person there who had also seen it (I believe he was a fan).

Is the other guy Art Hindle?

I was watching Donald Shebib’s latest at TIFF last fall, thinking that Nicholas Campbell was really killing it in an otherwise terrible movie. Turns out it was Art Hindle.

Michael Sarrazin?

I was hoping that Black Room was the Boris Karloff film

Mumbai Mafia
Though the title might imply a documentary about crime rings, the gangsters are more–or–less peripheral, here. The focus of this doc is on the unusual police response to India’s gangland problem: a special task force of cops, given free reign to hunt and kill mobsters extrajudicially. It chronicles the rise and fall of these “Encounter Specialists,” from the dire situation that produced them, through their rise to fame as “Untouchables”–style heroes, retaliations through the catastrophic Mumbai bombings and bloody Bombay Riots, and the 60 Minutes exposé that brought world attention and led to the public betrayal and imprisonment of the same killer cops the citizenry had once praised. The wealth of interviews and authentic news footage is more than sufficient for me to forgive the occasional dramatizations. I am not a fan of dramatizations in documentary film, and when they are warranted, I like them as quick, dry and non–dramatic as possible. But that is a matter of opinion. Errol Morris fans will gladly point to the invaluable contributions that relied on such techniques. As long as they are supplemental, they’re no more than a scratch on the Comet… or was it a Vega? Enthralling doc about an intriguing subject. Rampop recommends. 

The Alchemist Cookbook
Cabins and demons, y’all!
A reclusive young man hiding out in the woods with his cat, off his meds, with a talent for applied chemistry and a book of dark magic, deliver a refreshing good time round the occult campfire. An exercise in, to borrow JJ’s words, “economic creativity and innovative resourcefulness.”
One night he and I were discussing movies somewhere out in the Tennessee woods. I was saying something about a problem that makes producing werewolf movies more difficult to pull off than other horror subgenres: werewolves present a higher hurdle for filmmakers than the likes of vampires, zombies, axe murderers, etc, in that werewolves require a much heftier reliance on special effects. JJ countered with a persuasive gesture. He pointed towards a dark patch in the woods, obscured by bramble, mist and shadow. It was a place not pitch–black, but dark enough to make one uncertain of what they might or might not be seeing in there.
“That’s a werewolf.”
It was inarguable. With a little cinematic nudge, the power of suggestion fills that hazy void with a fiend more menacing than that which any prop, costume or CGI effect could ever hope to conjure.
So it is with The Alchemist Cookbook. A precious handful of actors, a remote location and a lot of talent bring this demonic gem to life, just as God and/or Satan intended it. Rampop highly recommends. 

The Pentaverate
All hopes dashed. A talented cast, likable characters and a promising premise were not nearly enough to save this dud from its dearth of writing talent. A self–congratulating quasi–psychoanalytical condemnation of rightwing conspiracy–theorist culture that will appeal to no one not already aligned, and a paint–by numbers plot ornamented with the typical low–hanging fruit of pop references, penis puns and poop jokes we’ve come to expect from Myers ever since The Spy who Shagged Me. I won’t say I didn’t laugh at all, but I won’t say I laughed hard, either. Or often. Myers’ willingness to dip himself so uncomfortably deep in the nose putty to supply his penchant for creating various amusing characters makes this disappointment all the more painful. Since the lead character is based, and apparently lovingly based, on the late CTV reporter Glenn Cochrane, I am curious about our Toronto–dwelling friends’ take on this one, but don’t say Rampop didn’t warn ya: you’ll wanna lower those expectations all the way down to the shoelaces. Rampop sadly cannot recommend.   
 
Better Call Saul Season 5
I know, I know, everybody has long since made up their mind about all this Breaking Bad shit, so what’s left to say? Just that I don’t remember any of the other seasons being this good. In the spirit of full disclosure, yeah, I liked Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Sue me. My point is, either it’s me, or they’ve stepped up their game. I’ve never noticed the camera work being this impressive. I’ve never remarked on just how good Rhea Seehorn and Jonothan Banks are. I’ve always liked their characters and they’ve always been put to good use, but in this latest Season 5 I’m realizing the show would not be even half as good without either one of them. I want to say “especially Banks” because I like him so much; I mean hate on the show all you like, but ya can’t front on Banks. But Seehorn is just such a badass I can’t possibly do her like that. The whole cast is great, but this round also gets a boost of nitro from Tony Dalton’s villain character who scares people with a wacky facial expression that has me agonizing over which lesser Looney Tunes character he most reminds me of. Maybe Pete Puma?
Anyway, take it or leave it, Rampop gives it the green light.
 
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Glorious. GUL—LORIOUS!!!!
Jinnistan has already voiced praise for this one and Rampop seconds that emotion. This shit is so good it’s got me flirting with the temptation to buy a Roku device, but I’ve just had to replace my tv (backlight problem) and my blu–ray player (which fell when I was moving my tv, despite my best efforts). Come on, Roku, if you’re jumping into the game of producing awesome original movies, I wanna be supportive. So meet me halfway here. Gimme a Roku device that can also play Blu–rays. Surely you can swing that. Weird surpassed all my expectations and blew me the fuck away. Such loving attention to detail, so full of surprises, so chock–full of good jokes and impeccable delivery, and… that was fucking Emo Phillips?!?!?!? I’m fairly convinced that the perfect details for his cameo were Emo's doing, not something written for him. At the risk of parroting JJ here, that one moment alone is worth one of the many stars in whatever ratings scale one chooses to apply.
As for me, Rampop merely sez, Do not miss this one. 
 
Louis CK: Back to the Garden
What, you didn’t know? This past Saturday Jan 28th, Louis CK performed a show at Madison Square Garden, live streamed it, and made it available for viewing on his website for a limited time. Short answer, yes, Louis can still bring the goods. Any new material Louis puts out will always be judged against his incredible peak years around 2010–2017. This is a great show, probably better than Sorry, that does eventually ascend to those heights around the fourth quarter. The whole show is quite good, but that fourth quarter is gold. If you’re a fan of Louis, you won’t have to just want this latest show to be funny. It’s goddamned funny. For the lowdown on how to see it I’m just gonna copy/paste the info from the announcement that was sent out to his mailing list:
“On Saturday, January 28 I am doing a show at Madison Square Garden. And I’m going to live stream that show on my website. You can buy a ticket to watch this show from your home or public toilet for $25.  For that amount of dollars you can watch the event live or watch it any time you want as often as you want after the show until it comes down from the site on February 17.”
“Also, just so you know, I will be releasing a special of the same material, what I’ve been touring with this year, sometime in April. I already shot that special at the Dolby Theater in LA and it is very good. That will be available for download and streaming for 10 dollars like all my other specials on the site.The show on the 28th is a live event and only available to watch on that night or until February 17. And then it will be gone.”
Rampop sez do it. Thou shalt laugh.

Also, upon Rock's recommendation, I found a couple of YouTube uploads of Ganashatru, Satyajit Ray's 1989 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, both in horrible condition. I got halfway through the better of the two (it had a logo of some kind at the top of the screen throughout), but the subtitles vanished around the halfway mark. Since this film is largely dialog–driven, I decided I needed to find a better print to finish it. The film gives a fitting take on the narrative by introducing a religious aspect to the central dispute, which works quite well. I think I have something more to say about the film's treatment of the main character but I want to see the second half before getting into that. So, to be continued...

Last edited by Rampop II (1/30/2023 9:45 pm)

Rock wrote:

Re: Encounter Specialists, if you can track it down, Ab Tak Chhappan is a very good movie on the subject. Think of it as Indian poliziotteschi. Nice and gritty. There’s a sequel as well, but it’s not nearly as good despite the lead actor from the original giving another strong performance.

Duly noted!

By the way, I fixed the image in my above post regarding my question about which Looney Tunes character resembles Tony Dalton's crazy Lalo Salamanca grin. Pete Puma, maybe?

Look.  I'm not going to sit and tell you how Rock sent me down a rabbit hole that lead me to Cheri Caffaro.  I'm not going to do it.  I'm just going to say, here we are.  I got a compass.  That's all that matters.

And I'm not going bother telling you that this a good movie.  We know what it is.  Is it entertaining?  Well, in terms of being a weird nexus of various exploitation genres - soft-core porn, blaxploitation, kung-fu, James Bond rip-off, etc etc - you could do a lot worse.  And that's what's important.  What's worse.  Keep that in mind, and you'll be OK.

6/10