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Reviews
Flaxy Martin (1949)
A more than implausible piece of evening entertainment
Our hero seems to be a very intelligent guy. Nevertheless, he is so naïve or too stupid to realize that his so-called girlfriend Flaxi is obviously also "good friends" with the gangster ?
Anyway, he falls for it and then comes up with the fabulously risky to idiotically reckless idea of delivering a murder confession himself that "must" be recognized as false in order to cover up for this treacherous flax-blonde tomato - who of course didn't actually commit the murder at all (it doesn't occur to our clever guy to check this dubious fact either.)
Anyway, it goes wrong, because of the perjury of a witness bought by the gangster, Colby promptly catches 20 years in prison.
On his prisoner transport laughably "secured" by only one flabby officer or sth., he is ofc able to knock the man down, jump off the train and promptly runs in front of the cooler of the big-hearted Nora, who for some inexplicable reason, although she looks great, has obviously no other suitors or relationships, drives around in the area in the evening for no reason (maybe she was simply looking for interesting escaped prisoners or homeless men, etc.), apparently also owns a large, empty house without having to work and promptly falls in love with our hero, ofc. Although Mr Colby acts as a cheeky, conceited and arrogant a-hole throughout the movie and practically to everyone, this woman helps him and also a mechanic he knows from before.
Due to the foolish acting of Richie's short henchman Roper, the two, handcuffed to each other, of course escape certain death in face of a freshly dug grave (while the other scoundrel is digging the pit and twit Roper is standing ready with a loaded weapon, you really don't get the impression that the both, this finely dressed lady & our hero are dealing with a life-threatening situation or imminent death.)
Sure, we know, the two guys will be easily knocked down, the 2 escape in the gangster's car with handcuffs on (conveniently the key was in place).
After Colby finds the killer Caesar dead, imp Roper is suddenly on the spot again (?) & idiotically announces his arrival to Colby by a phone call. But Roper is too stupid in Colby's pursuit (first misses twice, but then, like a master shot, shoots the revolver out of Colby's hand) that a rooftop fight, victoriously ended by Colby with the fatal fall of the villain Roper, becomes inevitable.
Later in the final confrontation phony tomato Flaxy accidentally shoots Richie, still-under-murder-conviction Colby grabs the money, floozie, goodbye ! For his shiny future with the Carson lady.
I would say, for the most part too obviously construed and flat, plot may have suited a punch+judy theatre.
Convicted (1950)
Saturated with improbabilities and logical gaps
The DA is sympathetic to our barroom bully from the beginning and, after Huffords incompetent lawyer botches the trial and the guy has to go to jail, DA is so angry that he wants to get drunk. And regrets that you can't lock up incompetent lawyers.
A few years later, he accidentally becomes a prison warden in Huffords very prison, it turns out that warden's daughter also has a weakness for the delinquent and is supposed to prepare the guy for his life after prison as an unpaid social worker. So warden doesn't mind that his daughter (not only big-hearted, of course, but also young & goodlookin', quite a stunner ofc - other suitors are not available?) gets involved with the guy, despite his prominent position precisely in the judicial apparatus. Fair enough. What excites everyone so much about sad sack Huff ?
But of course, self explaining ! How can I even ask, his good conduct in the war, where he was awarded ! He is a U. S. War Hero who deserves reverence (note: whenever a leading actor is introduced as an ex-soldier, and that means automatically an ex elite soldier, the case is clear, the film is over. And we know that they're going to get each other and how also this film-noir (film-grise?) will turn out.
Btw, we do not learn how exactly these repeated, doomed - armed ? - escape attempts took place. 3 (?) escapes betrayed by the same Stoolie, actually the whole prison knows about him, & this rat Conti is still alive after years ? Only at the 3rd escape is the tolerance limit reached and he has forfeited his life ? Uh. -
No more worth than a 4, at max.
Velikaya voyna (2010)
Yes, yes - modern means of CGI and animation...
...and reenactment, not to forget, do their best to clean the thing up & sugarcoat it a good deal. Not so convincing to me. But, o. K. Russians understandably do their best to make a heroic sense out of their 1st part of 20th century history.
Four Hours at the Capitol (2021)
Frightening & somewhat shocking insight
Saw it on German tv, January 5th, 2022. Ask myself, if the perpetrators really were so disoriented and clueless that they didn't knew where there were going. So that a single police officer, or some other police officers, by their intelligent behavior, could have led them some few meters away from real dangerous results, i. E. storming certain bureaus or the the joint session hall itself. Was this, eventually, only a "probe" ? Notice that obviously no firearms were brought in. Believe, the casualty outcome - whit due respect to the quite heavy injuries of some dozens of people - remained lenient, in regard of the angrily yelling aggressive masses involved. Another point was, in my opinion, a bit glossed over. On grounds of politeness and piety, due to this eminent place: so there were, over some hours, literally thousands of people strolling around and in capitol building. What about peeing. Or - horrible to say - defecation on improper places. Need would have been, more than enough. Can't believe that discipline was so strong that any soiling could be prevented.
North by Northwest (1959)
nice clean US in late 1950s shown, but this pic has aged badly. Towards ridiculousness
First, nice, so much properly-dressed, handsome-normally looking people, can be seen in the streets or at the train stations eg. (not lousy cloth, shabby or over-fat as today's majority), one can't believe that was the case some time. But it was, year was 1958, some 63 years ago ! Gosh.
Great color footage.
Plot is laughable. Clumsy "killers" try to eliminate Thornhill. Complicated schemes: make a man drunk and force him to drive into an abyss, so he'll find his end. Problem is, that underrated 50-something "Mr Joe" Roger Thornhill not only jostles his thug co-driver out of the car, but manages to distance his pursuers, racing the Mercedes, extremely over-drunk as he is (after 10 seconds of car chase you know, that soon Police will appear, even if you haven't seen the pic before...) And, crash boom bang rear end collision, here they are !
Thug throws a knife in the back of the "real" Diplomat in UN building, while this man is talking to Thornhill. Many people standing around, but nobody having seen that. Diplomat is dead, Thornhill grabs the knife (for fingerprints), declaring the shocked crowd - a photographer is at hand for snapshot - he has nothing to do with that - and, not enough, escapes without great effort out of the people-packed multi store UN building, fleeing aimlessly to train station, only covered by sunglasses. There he meets the femme-fatale Kendall, scheduled for him (? - how was this managed at such short hand ?), only a few moments before train's departure for Chicago.
F. F. Falls for him (at least, a part of her - viewer would know that after 10 seconds, both sitting in the dining car, they two would finish the film as lovers, together. For the last idiot to grip that, sweet music sets in...)
But then Kendall, after arrival in Chicago, sends our unlikely hero (her handlers have instructed her during train ride by notepad to let Thornhill act) coold-blooded to a certain deadly meeting-point out in the fields, where he is attacked by a crop-duster plane (!), with gunfire and spray. But - that quite complicated "killing by strafing plane" fails, as plane crashes into gasoline truck !
Not that much of a problem for him, Thornhill makes it shortly after to Kendalls hotel-room, love-interested as before. Kendall wants their ways to part. While Thornhill fakes taking a shower, she runs out of the hotel room for a date with her handlers.
At an auction - again in a crowd of people - Thornhill manages to catch Kendall with her handlers (Boss Vandamm is Kendalls Boy-friend, a very jealous indeed, soon we would learn. But, btw, he sent her to pick Thornhill up in the train, covering him from police officers searching for this murder suspect & allowing her to have sex with Thornhill in the sleeping compartment at the night ride to Chicago ??)
Again threatened by Vandamm's armed thugs, here, in this auction crowd, Thornhill employs a trick to get "saved" by two police officers (surely, Vandammes henchman would have finished him off, by gun or knife or sth., right in the auction rooms - what ? Please ? I thought, they prefer more difficult methods for eliminating people..suggestion: hit by falling balcony or sth. Like that ?) - Alas, cops bring Thornhill to the Chicago airport, where he learns to know "the Professor", a kind of US intelligence mastermind supervising the case (and permanently risking Thornhill's death, while doing this).
At Mount Rushmore, instructed double-agent Kendall shots Thornhill with blanks, in a restaurent, dozens of people around being witness. Anyway, she can run out of the place, unimpeded by anybody, get to her car and drive away. Professor, Thornhill and Kendall meet shortly after in the woods. Problems arise between the elderly spare time pre-Bond & his 26-year old love interest !
Professor now must conduct the operation somewhat harsher. Thornhill, knocked out by his driver, is brought to kind of Jail-hotel ? - a hotel room which can not be opened from inside. After a chat the Professor is out for a bottle of whiskey for the two of them. Meanwhile, it's practital, that Thornhill can espace from his secure "cell" out of the window ! Fine: there's a ledge at hand, so he can easily get to the neighboring window, climb in - pleasently surprising the lady in bed there - quickly gettin' out of her door & so escaping intelligent US security agency's custody !
So much for that. Too long stretched. After two hours or so of this rubbish I was served and clicked TV out for good. May this super Hitch masterpiece rest in Peace.
(won't bother too much about other laughable details as the casting of a some 8 years older actress as Thornhill's "mother")
Evilenko (2003)
A Rrussian Cannibal ?! - Yeah !!! Of course, what else !
Typical Russian name - born in RRussia - Rrussian National, for Sure - btw, ev'rything bein' evil (EVIL) Must Came from Rrussia (even if it was, in fact, produced & its mother tongue - btw. - was Ukrainian. Same as with Chernobyl) - That Certain individual Named Chikatilo.
Afghanistan: Das verwundete Land: Das Königreich (2020)
The Kingdom ?
The documentation covers a time span from 1960s quite into the 1980s, Mujaheddin vs Soviet military & communist regime, so why "The Kingdom" ? Kingdom ended in 1973, so this title might be called a mismatch.