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GeoDover
Reviews
The Hallow (2015)
Hollow but with a few good sequences
The Hallow is rather hollow, with a nerdy scientist, his resourceful wife and their infant son under siege in a house built within and slowly being subsumed by a surrounding forest. This after Adam, the scientist well played by Joseph Mawle, starts removing samples of tree bark and worm-infested rotting stone and wood from a supposedly enchanted forest. This results in retaliation from the forest dwellers. Was it surprising that the infant is eventually kidnapped by a gaggle of half decayed fairies and slime creatures? The creatures seem organized and rush Adam and family in strategic manner. The sequence of Adam becoming infected is a highlight, with his ultimate end story being entertaining. The character is hopelessly illogical in action. Every time he turns around he makes terrible decisions that endanger his young family. I could hear an imaginary 42nd Street theater audience hooting and hollering at this. His character is so irritating it sure takes a long time to get to some kind of resolution.... The fairies or whatever they are certainly have some kind of society, but the filmmakers ignore insights and go for chasey action in the decaying house. The ending with the two babies had me scratching my head. Well made but hampered by confusion.
The Vulture (1966)
Terrible
The Vulture is ludicrous. A Spanish criminal buried with his pet vulture is inexplicably combined with Akim Tamiroff, who plays a seemingly benign scientist experimenting with matter transfer in rural Cornwall. Equally ludicrous is Broderick Crawford playing a Scottish lord whose family is targeted by the vulture. Lead actor Robert Hutton's character advances ridiculous theories about who or what is killing Brod's relatives without any real evidence to support his theories... yet, he's 100% correct every time. Lawrence Huntington's final B movie was a disaster and especially an embarrassment for Akim Tamiroff. The first 5 minutes are mildly scary. The rest is terrible.
Wolf Dog (1958)
Deserves its poor reputation
Set in a small western town, WOLF DOG centers on a kid (played by Tony Brown) who sees his dog mauled to death and on the rebound finds and trains a "wolf dog" that is played by a very rambunctious German Shepherd named Prince. Prince is the main reason for seeing the movie, as the story is hardly stellar and rather poorly played, mostly by Jim Davis as a lying ex-con father mixed up with escaped prisoners, and the beautiful Allison Hayes who plays the mother. She looks totally out of place in this modern Western setting, although she makes the most of looking worried. The kid's father lies to his son and stands by while his boy's dog is brutally killed by another dog, a hefty black Lab belonging to his rival, a "Snidely Whiplash" kind of villain. The plot has something to do with cattle and land rights. Prince does not really get to interact much with the bad guys in the movie, but appears to seriously injure another dog. The dog on dog violence in WOLF DOG is strange. The movie is not really for family viewing, and children of the time must have found it boring, filled with adult situations that don't really make sense to adults, either.
House on the Hill (2012)
Not a total disappointment
This is a slow-burn creeper of a film focusing on two real-life serial killers, one of whom gets a co-starring role here as himself in flashback "found" footage. The story of House on the Hill is, well..... A woman recalls her days and nights with one of the killers as her tormenting lover, with digressions and flashbacks within flashbacks. The killers kill a succession of women and some of it gets very tedious. Creepy at times, somewhat effective for the most part but in terms of movie-making it's crude. There are a couple of gruesome moments but it's mostly about the processes they employ to kill. Even worse, the killers appear frustrated much of the time, and shows them playing a lot of chess; yet, neither of them seems very bright. The real-life killer appears at interludes, speaking to the viewer directly, with a chilling nonchalance that elevates the movie somewhat. The movie's bluntness creates suspense in some scenes. Most of the dread is created by the acting but there is no coherent story to support the effort. Things get monotonous but on balance it's not a total disappointment.
Norwood (1970)
Same crew behind TRUE GRIT reunited for OK comedy
A romantic comedy tailored for Glen Campbell and Kim Darby, at the time popular co-stars of TRUE GRIT. Darby is the better actor of the two, but gets the worst lines and her character is unbelievable; Campbell is barely adequate in an undemanding role of a would be country and western singer who criss crosses the country chasing $70 that Joe Namath owes him. Namath's film debut is forgettable and negligible. In fact, the whole movie drips away from the memory as it plays out. A few good moments, with fun cameos appearances by Pat Hingle and a deliciously foul mouthed Carol Lynley. Meredith McRae provides the appropriate attitude of bubbly fun that seems lost on the other players, and director Jack Haley Jr. just lets the movie putter out. Jack Haley Sr. appears in a few scenes in his final movie role. A few decent pop tunes were written by Mac Davis. Campbell stopped making movies after this, thank goodness.
That Hagen Girl (1947)
Small town small minds in closeup
It's not a good movie, but THAT HAGEN GIRL captures the arrogance of 1940s small town mentality, obsessed with propriety. Shirley Temple, trying to make a crossover from cute singing moppet to teenager roles, plays the illegitimate child of ... well, someone in town. The local gossips think Ronald Reagan is the father. Temple remains a cipher in this, made just before Fort Apache, which was a better venue for her. Ronald Reagan is miscast and appears put off by the whole affair. His frowning, uninvolved performance hurts the movie, as well. Nicely produced with decent supporting performances, but the awfulness of Temple and Reagan is unfortunate. THAT HAGEN GIRL was somewhat popular with audiences, but critics ripped it apart in the day... justifiably so.
600 Millas (2015)
Nicely done but boring
This is Mexico's submission for the 2016 Oscars, and it's a semi-kinetic B-movie with good acting but no story. A G-man (Tim Roth) on the trail of teenage gunrunners gets himself kidnapped by one of the Latino teens, who doesn't really know what to do with his likable victim. It all ends in violence although director Gabriel Ripstein adds an amusing coda to keep it light. With minimal character development and mostly unpleasant characters, 600 MILES acts like its plot twists are tremendous.... they are as diving behemoths with the equivalent crushing effect, rendering the movie quite boring. Further proof of bore city: Endless tight shots of people driving and standing, or just staring into space. A B movie masquerading as artistic vanity is a waste of effort. Ripstein, who also co- produced, edited among other things, could have gained more market value for his film by just doing it as a straightforward B-movie. At least then we could revel in expanded villain roles. The villains here are boring, too. Not Oscar worthy.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Lacks humanity
An adequate actioner but not well connected to the earlier movies in the series. And aside from a hair raising opening airplane takeoff, the stunts are witless. Cruise is getting some Eastwood about him and he looks physically unwell, and can barely swallow some of the worst dialog of the year on hand right here... care of McQuarrie, whose abilities as a director outshine his writing disasters. The storyline is almost incomprehensible; when there is no humanity in the characters' behavior or motivation, then all one can do is sit back and view the film as a roller coaster ride; equal parts excessive movement and unpleasantness. The Ilsa character is typical... more of a plot device. Acting is OK, uneven; Jeremy Renner cannot overcome his character's illogic and has the worst lines; Rebecca Ferguson adds life to the movie; the rest are negligible including over the hill action star Cruise, who should be playing the Alec Baldwin part so step aside and let a new generation take over that part.