Out To Lunch

The Movie Buzzard is out circling, riding the thermals and scanning the landscape for signs of fresh roadkill. He'll be back. 

    "When does an empire die? Does it collapse in 

      one terrible moment? No. But there comes a 

      time when its people no longer believe in it."

      

                                Laurence Fishbourne in "Megalopolis"

The Naked Witch (1961)

 

THE NAKED WITCH  (1961)  ¢

    D: Claude Alexander, Larry Buchanan

    Libby Hall, Robert Short, Jo Maryman,

    Charles West, Jack Herman, Howard Ware

Cheaply made regional horror about a college kid who accidentally resurrects a vengeful witch. An introductory lesson in art history and witchcraft, and a documentary-style look at German traditions in Texas, add to the movie's length but do nothing  to enhance the story. Produced for $8,000 by a drive-in operator who wanted a movie with lots of nudity, but except for a modest skinny-dipping scene, you don't see that much of the witch.

Take the High Ground (1953)

 

TAKE THE HIGH GROUND  (1953)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Richard Brooks

    Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Elaine Stewart, 

    Russ Tamblyn, Carleton Carpenter, Steve Forrest,

    Robert Arthur, Jerome Courtland, Bert Freed

Widmark and Malden play Army drill sergeants whipping a platoon of new recruits into shape. That's the movie, really, except for a melodramatic subplot that's off-base in more ways than one. Anybody who's survived basic training will see something they recognize in Widmark's Sgt. Ryan. Straighten up, soldier. Inspection at 06:00.

They Call Her One Eye (1973)

THEY CALL HER ONE EYE  (1973)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Alex Fridolinski (Bo Arne Vibenius)

    Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf, Gunnar Palm,

    Despina Tomazani, Solveig Andersson 

Still mute and traumatized 15 years after a childhood rape, a young woman gets a lift from a pimp who introduces her to heroin and prostitution. When she resists, he puts out her eye in a scene reminiscent of "Un Chien Andalou", so she goes along, turning tricks, shooting up, hoarding her money and plotting revenge. A creepy, disturbing exploitation piece from Sweden, with moments of blood-spewing, slow-motion violence, striking (and sometimes distracting) point-of-view shots, and gratuitous, hardcore inserts punctuating the sex scenes. It's like "I Spit On Your Grave", but with a touch of artistry in the direction and an impassive, blank-slate performance by Christina Lindberg as the victim-turned-angel-of-death. Alternate titles: "Thriller", "Hooker's Revenge". 

Mystery Road (2018)

 

MYSTERY ROAD  (2018)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Rachel Perkins

    Aaron Pederson, Judy Davis, Tasia Zalar,

    Tasma Walton, Wayne Blair, Deborah Mailman,

    Colin Friels, Anthony Hayes, Aaron L. McGrath

When two young men - a white backpacker and an Aboriginal football star - go missing on a vast outback cattle station , a white cop and an Aboriginal detective team up to try to find them. A six-part Australian miniseries that ends up being about a lot more than a missing persons case. The narrative has some loose ends - subplots and characters that seem to be going somewhere and then just kind of vanish - but Davis and Pederson command your attention, and the aerial shots of the landscape are spectacular. (The role the land plays in the story is crucial.) More visual evidence that no place on earth looks anything like Australia.

Betty In Blunderland (1934)

 

BETTY IN BLUNDERLAND  (1934)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Dave Fleischer

Betty Boop falls asleep while working on a jigsaw puzzle and follows a white rabbit through a mirror and into  strange and sometimes terrifying universe. Ed Wynn makes a brief animated appearance. Boop-boop-a-doop. 

You the Living (2007)

 

YOU THE LIVING  (2007)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Roy Andersson

    Elisabet Helander, Jörgen Norhall, Björn Englund,

    Jessika Lundberg, Eric Bäckman, Pär Fredriksson

Fifty-odd little deadpan vignettes, some vaguely connected and some not so much. Some are amusing. Some are surreal. A lot of them feature a tuba, for some reason. It's like where Wes Anderson, Jacques Tati, Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki all meet up. Favorite bit: An old man pushing a walker along the sidewalk and dragging a distinctly unhappy dog on a leash behind him. I'm not sure why that struck me as funny, but it did. Made in Sweden.