Movie Review: Charulata - 1964

Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee), is a woman who feels alone in her marriage.  The husband, Bhupti Dutta(Shalen Mukherjee), is a busy man who is running a fledgling political newspaper.  Bhupti has brought in his cousin, Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), who is known to be lazy and having no direction.  Others were brought into the home as well, but this story is about these three characters in particular.

It turns out, while yes he is lazy, Amal is quite a talented writer.  Charu finds this out and develops a fondness for him.  Amal did not really show the feelings toward Charulata, but he was young and would not dare cross his cousin.  Bhupti was oblivious to all of this.  Charu grows as a character as she opens up more and more and her talents as a writer start to show.  She and Amal are able to read each others writings and the two form a bond.  Amal, ever the good cousin would not let this happen.

Movie Review: 10 Rillington Place (Blu-ray, Twilight Time)

Reviewed By: Hal Astell                      

Somehow I let this feature get past me and I have no idea why. I can safely get a pass from seeing it on initial release because I was too busy being born, but it must have played on British television while I was growing up and, as a boy who had both an interest in true crime and a tendency to read the Radio Times each week to figure out what I wanted to watch (this was in the dark ages before VCRs let alone DVRs), I would surely have noticed it. After all, the address of the title is a standard trivia question in the UK. Where did John Christie commit eight murders between 1943 and 1953? That one’s a gimme. However, I find it more chilling that I’d also let the importance of what the film, and the book by journalist Ludovic Kennedy upon which it was based, has to say get by me too. Perhaps like many, I’d associated it with murders rather than hangings and it’s the latter that has more resonance. Put simply, the hanging of Timothy Evans, an innocent man, is a key reason why capital punishment was abolished in the UK.

Movie Review: 99 Women (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: James D.

As a film fan who seeks out the lost treasures you have always heard about Franco’s 99 Women being so controversial for its time. I think the controversy of this film is that the price is so damn high. Why attack Blue Underground. They are not the regular suspects. That would be Grindhouse, Severin, Arrow and countless others who are gouging the fans for every penny we have. I understand you are having tough times on sales, but to hit your die-hard fans so hard is not the answer. 

99 Women is basically a women in prison exploitation film. Maria Rohm plays the 99th prisoner of an all-female island prison. Franco is shooting high on this film, but it just comes up so short. You have Mercedes McCambridge and Herbert Lom in this film. They both are incredible at their crafts, but they are so wasted here. The film tries to create a plot off of the government inspector coming down on the sadistic governor. Which we get to see the guy who is in charge of the male prison on the other side of the island. 

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Hush (2016)

Kevin talks about the most tense horror/suspense film he's seen in a long time.

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Movie Review: Sudden Fear (1952, Blu-ray)

Reviewed By:

James D.

Sudden Fear” has had an odd trip on its way to blu ray. I first saw this film in 1987, when the 1952 classic was restored in 35 millimeter. The past dvd releases, have raised questions with fans. In the past, this film had picture and sound issues. The copy I had, I could not watch the whole film and went back to Suncoast to tell them. The picture was very low quality and the sound was choppy with blips in it. (The price tag was around 30.00) When I heard the news of the Cohen Film Collection carrying this title, I was iffy.

Movie Review: Murmur of the Heart (1971)

Murmur of the Heart(Le Souffle Au Coeur) is movie in the "coming of age" realm.  Fourteen year old Laurent(Benoit Ferreux) is the main character and he gets into all kinds of mischief.  Hustling on the streets for the Red Cross, stealing jazz albums from the local music shops, smoking, drinking, being hit on by a priest and more.  There were aspects of this film I really enjoyed and others that left me upset.  This review goes into detail in some aspects so if you have not seen it and do not want to be spoiled fully, please do not read past the next paragraph.

What I do like about Murmer of the Heart is the progression of Laurent.  He comes from a well to do family but it is a family that has their own issues.  Laurent's father(Daniel Gelin) doesn't show much affection, the mother(Lea Massari) shows entirely too much affection, and the two older brothers(Fabian Ferreux and Marc Winocourt) are just out to have a good time throughout(almost like sexual deviant versions of the twin Weasleys from Harry Potter).  Unlike the Weasley boys, by good time, I mean sexually harassing the maids, comparing penis sizes, getting Laurent drunk, taking their younger brother to a brothel and then interrupting the act.  We will get into the relationship with the mother shortly.

Vinegar Syndrome's Black Friday Sale!

Now that Halloween is over, it can only mean one thing...Black Friday is just weeks away, and you know what that means...Our world famous Black Friday Sale is almost here! This year, in addition to our incredible price discounts and 2017 yearly package deals, we have two (yes 2!) surprise Blu-rays planned! One is an all-but-lost late 80s slasher which we've restored to its longest cut ever. The other is a 60s sexploitation classic by one of the genre's most acclaimed auteurs. Both are coming to Blu-ray for the first time and will ONLY be for sale on the VS site (and eventually other places, if there's any left).

 

Movie Review: Blue Ice (1985)

Directed by Philip Marshak

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Since we’ve e been promised by a certain individual that America will be great again, this little porno chestnut unearthed by the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome reminds us once again what makes America great: Third-rate Humphrey Bogart world-weary detectives and their ponderous narration … reliable Nazi villains who can't seem to keep their swastika armbands on straight … purty girls that upon analysis aren't all that purty … sex scenes involving lots of shouting and yelling … dramatic scenes involving lots of shouting and yelling … beautiful locations of San Francisco rendered with ragged camera swish pans. Yes! We're in the kooky alternative universe that is Blue Ice, as helmed by the notorious director Philip Marshak (The Nightmare Never Ends, aka Cataclysm and Dracula Sucks!).

The story? You got us there, pal! Famed skin flick hunk and lunk Herschel Savage stars as the aforementioned gumshoe contracted by said Nazis to find a rare book of ultimate power. Savage wanders in and out fleshy situations that don't forward the plot. His hooker roommate services “Hedgehog” himself Ron Jeremy, there's lots of screaming and yelling, while reliable schlong Paul Thomas stumbles about in an alcoholic haze, winding up trussed up and tortured by said Nazis. The least eagle-eyed viewer will note that Thomas, kept bound in bed rests his arms in two hooks without any restraint whatsoever keeping them there! You suppose the doofus secretly likes it? Exotic “Helga Sven,” a Germanic platinum blonde by way of Tulsa, Oklahoma sings a passable version of “Deutschland Uber Alles,” and the sought-after book, an ungainly prop full of Bedazzler beads is opened, referencing 1955's Kiss Me Deadly long before Quentin Tarrantino did so in Pulp Fiction (1996). We haven't even mentioned the plain-Jane 300-year-old witch who concludes the film with a painfully dated laser light show. Longtime skull-faced screen villain Reggie Nalder (Salem’s Lot) appears as a guest Nazi poobah, and thankfully remains fully clothed ….

Movie Review: Julia (1977)

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Fledgling playwright Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda) is shacked up with past-his-prime hard-boiled author Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards) at his Martha's Vineyard beach retreat. Hellman is grinding away at her first play, the groundbreaking melodrama about repressed lesbianism at a girl's school “The Children's Hour.” While Hammett gives his criticism and praise to her initial efforts, Hellman drifts back to childhood revelries with her longtime friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave). The two enjoyed a wealthy, rarefied childhood full of servants and castles, but Julia had an unflappable sense of social justice at an early age. Both Lillian and Julie go their separate ways come young adulthood – Lillian, to the stage and Julie to anti-fascist resistance work in pre-Hitler Europe when fate leads to a final meet up. A secretive counter agent (Maximilian Schell) approaches Lillian to help smuggle money in a hat across the border into Berlin where she will be briefly united with Julia – the usually unflappable Lillian tenuously accepts the offer and tastes fear as she walks into highly dangerous territory as a final favor for a friend ….

Julia is grand, old-time movie entertainment packed to the rafters with Hollywood's foremost old-time leftists. Fonda, Robards and the pro-PLO Redgrave – who accepted her Best Supporting Oscar in 1977 while denouncing “Zionist hoodlums” – give it their all in a story packed full of romance, humor tragedy and a heaping helping of suspense. We know that Hellman will live to see another day, but Fonda's time on the express headed for certain death remains nonetheless remains fraught with tension. In addition, the production and attention to period detail is so lavish, those accustomed to more modern, grittier fare will be sure to exclaim, “Now, this is what a movie is all about!”

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (DC, 2013)

Kevin reviews DC's dark animated tale of time travel gone wrong with The Flash and a Batman from your nightmares.

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Music Review: Luke Cage Original Soundtrack (Marvel/Netflix, 2016)

One of the best parts of Marvel's Luke Cage is the music. Many episodes start with musical acts performing at Harlem's Paradise, the show's fictional night club. Add to it an amazing score by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and you have a soundtrack that beautifully compliments the show.

Marvel and Netflix recently released the soundtrack to the show. While it served as the background to my work day once or twice, I have to say that it was a bit disappointing overall. To clarify, nothing on the soundtrack is disappointing. Every track is perfectly written and performed, and I thought about their corresponding scenes as I listened. Method Man performs Bulletproof Love, and original track for the show which I can not get enough of. Unfortunately, that's the only vocal performance on the album.

TV Review: Luke Cage (Marvel/Netflix, 2016)

By now, everyone who was going to watch Marvel's latest installment in the Defenders series has binged through all thirteen episodes of Luke Cage. If you haven't, I'll warn you now, there might be some minor spoilers. Also, what have you been doing? After two rounds of Daredevil and Luke's introduction through Jessica Jones, I would think people would be ready for the bulletproof hero for hire. I couldn't wait for this one, and so far, it's my favorite of the bunch.

Luke lives a quiet life working two jobs to make ends meet. After his bar was blown up in part thanks to Jessica Jones, he decides to lay low. Not to mention the headaches he still suffers after she shot him in the jaw with a shotgun. His day job is at a barber shop run by local thug-turned-hero Pop. At night, he sweeps up at Harlem's Paradise, a night club owned by the infamous Cottonmouth Stokes. When a bartender calls in, Luke is forced to take his place for the night, and our story is set in motion.

Movie Review: The Mutilator (1984, Blu-ray)

Now that the busy season of the hubby’s business is over and October has wrapped up, I can get back to my reviews. And I’m excited to jump back in with a film from the most tubular of decades - the 80s!

The Mutilator (original title Fall Break) begins with the most unfortunate of events. Little Ed Jr. decides that the best birthday present he can give his father is to clean all his dad’s guns. We’ve all been there. Checking down the sight of a rifle and pulling the trigger to make sure everything’s clean and accidentally killing our moms, amirite?

Needless to say, Ed Sr.’s cheese slides a little off his cracker when he comes home to find his wife dead and his spawn responsible. 

Years later, Ed is in college and the relationship with his father is basically nonexistent. Until now. He wants Ed to close up the beach condo for the winter. And how convenient because Ed and his friends are on fall break (ahhh…now the original title makes more sense!) and have nothing to do. So why not help close up the place while enjoying time at the beach?

Because Ed’s dad is a fucking nut job and wants them all dead!! Particularly Junior, of whom he dreams about killing all the time.

Movie Review: Doctor Strange (Marvel, 2016)

Of all of the characters in the MCU, Dr. Strange is possibly the one I knew the least about going in. I knew that he was a doctor that screwed up his hands and became a magician. that's about it. In general, I wasn't wrong. Truly, though, there was much more to it.

Stephen Strange is a brilliant surgeon. He has an amazing track record, but mostly because he filters out any possible failures. He's successful, self-centered, arrogant as hell and just a big giant asshole to everyone around him. He's not really likeable in the least. Upon taking a phone call in the rain while speeding through a twisting highway, Strange goes off the road and down a mountainside. In the process, he destroys his hands. After multiple surgeries to repair the damage, Strange has tremors that he can't steady, rendering him useless as a surgeon. After months of desperately looking for a medical way to heal, he turns to other methods.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park: Europe (Netflix, 2016)

Kevin reviews a new series from our favourite Canadian screw-ups.

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Movie Review: Raiders! (2015)

One of the biggest movies of the 1980s was Radiers of the Lost Ark. The entire Indiana Jones series (barring the shots taken at The Crystal Skull) has been an action/sci-fi mainstay for my generation. For one group of kids, it became an obsession that lasted seven summers. Friends Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala led a group that reshot the entire movie scene for scene and practically frame for frame.

It's actually a pretty amazing feat for a bunch of kids with a VHS camera.What's even more amazing is the fact that they were able to hold everything together for so long in spite of all of their difficulties. One thing they were never able to complete was the scene where Indy is getting pummeled by a shirtless goon who ends up being chopped to bits by an airplane propeller. Finally, in their adulthood, they got the opportunity. For one last weekend, the boys would get together to complete their homage.

Movie Review: Masks (2016, Blu-ray)

Reviewed by:

James D.

If you would have asked me a decade ago, “ How do you feel about a new Giallo film”. I would have told you, no thanks. I am such a die hard movie geek. I have seen so many of the 70’s and early 80’s Giallos, that I lost faith in a modern day one at that time. In the last decade, it seems that the Giallo film has seen a comeback of sorts. “ Masks” is a very interesting one that brings me back to a creativity that pays respect to the masters of this genre.

Our main character is Stella. She is a young lady trying to get her dream of becoming an actress to happen. The problem with this dream, is the reality that she does not have the necessary talent to back it up. After bombing at an audition, she is asked to join the Matteusz Gdula acting school which courted much controversy in the 70’s. It seems that this school employs some very questionable methods. At first, the school seems fine and normal. It is when Stella makes friends with Cecile that she becomes worried and suspicious at what is going on around her at this school.