December Films Update 3

Ten more films I watched earlier this year

**** 

1. The Godfather Part III

In the fifteen years since the Godfather Part II Michael Corleone has attempted to make his criminal empire legitimate, now he is in banking and real estate. He has also donated vast amounts to charity, which the Catholic Church has rewarded him by investing him into a Papal Order. At the reception, like in the previous Godfather films, we meet most of the characters of the film, some seeking favours from Michael, the Godfather.

He's trying to go legitimate for his family. He wants his son Anthony to become a lawyer and join the family business but his (ex-? separated?) wife Kay convinces him to let Anthony be a singer. He appoints his daughter Mary head of the Vito Corleone Foundation and endows it with vast amounts of money to spend on projects in Sicily, supported by the church. Also at the reception is Vincent Mancini, the illegitimate son of Michael’s brother Sonny. Michael had (again) tried to get him to be a lawyer in the family business, but instead Vincent had joined the criminal side and had a run in with Joey Zasa. Zasa asks Michael to settle the issue, but Vincent bites his ear. Michael smooths things over and takes Vincent closer into his confidence.

Michael is seeking to put things right because of all the losses his family has suffered, including him ordering the death of his brother Fredo, due to Fredo’s involvement in the death of their brother Sonny. Between them Kay and Anthony have realised what happened though Mary is still ignorant. Michael and his Vatican contacts attempt to make a deal, to invest in a European real estate company that the Vatican has a large share of and a veto over major decisions. Archbishop Gilday, head of the Vatican Bank, is for the deal, as Michael offers to invest in the bank which will cover the losses (this is a fictionalised version of the real Papal Banking Scandal of the early 80s).

Michael, wanting to cut off ties with the criminal side, agrees a meeting with all the other mafia bosses in Atlantic City, arranged by Don Altobello. He pays them all for the casinos he’s selling. They ask to be involved in the real estate deal but he refuses, and also pays Zasa nothing. Zasa storms out swearing revenge; Altobello follows, promising to make a reconciliation. A helicopter appears and machine guns the meeting; Michael makes it out with the help of Vincent. Realising that Altobello is behind it, Michael has a diabetic stroke and collapses.

With Michael incapacitated Vincent gets permission from his aunt Connie and Michael’s enforcer to attack Zasa, dressing up as a policeman and shooting him during a street festival. He and Mary have also been getting closer; Michael, recovering, does not appreciate any of this, trying to stop the new gang war and warning Vincent off from Mary, as it’s too dangerous and also she’s his first cousin.

They go to Sicily, to try and get away and also because Anthony has got role in the opera. Michael suggests Vincent pretend to defect to Altobello; this succeeds and Vincent meets him and also the head of the European Real Estate firm, and they are trying to prevent Michael taking control. Michael meets a cardinal archbishop tipped to be the next pope; he convinces Michael to take confession with him, absolving him of his sins (for some reason not giving him a penance, seems a bit of an oversight; how many Our Fathers and Hail Marys for killing your brother?).

The Pope dies and the deal is put on hold. Altobello uses his Sicilian contacts to engage a legendary local hitman, who disguises himself and his son as priests. They kill Michael’s local friend. The cardinal is elected Pope and the deal goes through.

The Pope is then poisoned by Gilday. Vincent and Michael takes revenge on the opponents of the deal. Michael agrees to make Vincent his successor for splitting up with Mary. At the opera Connie gives Altobello a poisoned pastry; the assassins try to get at Michael; they instead kill Mary, destroying Michael at the moment of his success.

A somewhat depressing end to the series, Michael inevitably failing. Coppola had initially not wanted to make any more Godfather films (hence the sixteen year gap between Parts II and III). In the end it was the money that made the difference, though also the time gap allowed him to move events on to another generation and the efforts of the mafia to make themselves respectable. The violence is more lurid, and if the scale is no larger (Part II had them working with the Cuban government and attending a US Senate investigations) the use of the Church and basing it on real events gives a bit of a lift. In the end it’s held together by Al Pacino. The casting of Sophia Coppola, the director’s daughter, is an interesting one; she isn’t as good an actor, or perhaps her range is not so good as others in the film; yet she’s got good-but-not-Hollywood-good looks and style that make her believable.

Watch This: Strong conclusion to the crime family drama
Don’t Watch This: Can’t reach anywhere near the heights of the previous two

2. The Thicket (2024)

After their parents die Jack and Lula Parker are collected by their uncle. Waiting for a ferry they encounter Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) and her gang; things get out of hand and the uncle is killed and Bill kidnaps Lula. Jack tries to follow them.

In town Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf, tries to get the pay for his companion Eustace (Gbenga Akinnagbe) who has been digging a grave in the frozen ground. The man refuses unless Jones puts on a costume and dances for him, so Jones humiliates him then they make their escape in an extraordinary car (the film is set about 1900 in Texas, there’s a couple of motor vehicles before they resort to horses heading across country). Jones, a bounty hunter, uses a long rifle and telescopic sight to shoot at the pursuers from out of their range.

Jack meets Jones and Eustace, hires them to hunt down Cut Throat Bill and rescue his sister. Initially they rely on rumours of how enormous Bill’s bounty is, but when they hear it’s less Jack promises the land deeds to a big spread in Montana, something both Jones and Eustace are interested in as a place to call home. Trying to learn where Bill has gone Jack meets with Jimmy Sue (Leslie Grace) in a brothel; leaving with her they all find themselves pursued by her pimp.

The stories all point in the same direction; Cut Throat Bill has a hideout in the Thicket, a (real) wooded wilderness. They make their way there, only to encounter other bounty hunters. When one of them is killed, Jones’ careful plan turns into a confused, brawling final shootout.

Indeed confused is part of this film’s effect; no one is quite clear what’s going on. No one is sure what about Cut Throat Bill is true or legend, or how much the bounty on her is. Bill’s kidnapped Lula, but it’s not quite clear why, is she looking to hold her prisoner as a toy or slave, to recruit her, seduce her. Jack want to rescue his sister, that’s uncomplicated, but he’s not sure how to go about it, and everyone keeps running into authority figures and being surprised when they don’t like be thwarted. If you don’t mind the whole thing being a bit disjointed and off-putting it’s pretty good.

Watch This: Slightly askew Western revenge/rescue thriller
Don’t Watch This: Very askew and set late for a Western, confused and confusing, violent and grim

3. The Lost City (1997)

Three South African archaeology students and one older guy who’s hitching a lift on their helicopter crash in a remote area. It turns out there’s a Lost Civilisation. The two male students Dean and Thabo find themselves immediately caught up in politics; the Queen and an Advisor are plotting against the Princess. Then the king returns back and one of the students has to fight the captain of the guard. He does okay, starts to lose, then his friend tells him to get dirty with it; he wrestles his opponent down, refuses to kill him and is made captain.

The plot gets confused from here; this is because the film was cut together from a South African adventure TV series The Legend Of The Hidden City. By sacrificing the slow explanatory bits we get a film with plenty of low-budget excitement but fundamentally it makes no sense at all.

Watch This: The highlights of an adventure series in one easy package
Don’t Watch This: By cutting connecting scenes it is a lot of nonsense

4. Deliverance (1972)

Four businessmen from Atlanta Georgia go out into the wilderness for the weekend. A river is going to be dammed so it’s the last chance for them to canoe down it. Lewis (Burt Reynolds) is experienced, he’s planned it all. Ed (Jon Voight) also has some experience. Bobby (Ned Beatty) is rude about the locals, who in turn are not fond of these city boys, suspicious they might be from the power company who are building the dam. Drew has brought his guitar and competes/duets with a local boy with a banjo with the music “Duelin’ Banjos”.

Out on the river Ed and Bobby get lost, encounter two mountain men who hold them at gunpoint, forcing Bobby to undress and then raping him, demanding he squeal like a pig. Lewis ambushes them, killing one with his bow, the other escaping into the woods. After some debate they bury the body, knowing the grave will be submerged soon, and head off downstream.

At some rapids Drew falls out of the canoe, they crash, one canoe is wrecked. Lewis breaks his leg and Drew is dead. Lewis has Ed climb the gorge as he believes they were shot at; he kills a man there. They sink Drew and the man and continue downstream. They arrive at the town where they come up with a cover story of Drew’s death; one of the sheriff’s deputy’s doesn’t believe them as his brother-in-law went hunting and never came back.

Townies versus country, the arrogance of the visitor and the savagery of the mountain men. Not entirely by chance it’s extremely well cast and the iconic musical duel makes it memorable. Still in the end it’s about some men on a wilderness trip who are ambushed by barbaric hillbillies. Not sure it has much more to say than that.

Watch This: Strong thriller with excellent river scenes, gritty fights, good actors and a classic bit of music
Don’t Watch This: A slander against country folk

5. Ginger Snaps

In a suburb or dormitory town in Canada dogs are being killed by something mysterious. Two teen sisters Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald are unpopular at school. The two have made a pact to get out of town or die trying. They have made a series of fake photos of them dead. Brigitte, a year younger, has been put up a grade in school so they’re in the same class. As becomes clear, neither of them is interested in boys.

Going out to kidnap the dog of their bully Trina, Ginger has her first period and this attracts the creature that’s been killing dogs. Ginger gets bitten and they flee, only for the creature to be hit and killed by Sam Miller’s van. Sam is a municipal gardener and also drug dealer, who uses his access to greenhouses to grow marijuana and his work on the school grounds to sell it.

Ginger changes, growing hair on her body, becoming aggressive, fighting the bully, and then growing a tail. She dresses more prettily and has sex with Jason, one of her classmates. Brigitte talks to Sam to learn about what he hit with his van; between them they come up with monkshood as a cure for werewolves – but they’re out of season.

Things get out of hand when Trina comes to confront them about her missing dog and in a struggle she hits her head and dies. They hide the body. On Halloween Brigitte gets hold of some monkshood and has Sam make up a dose. On her way home she’s attacked by Jason and injects him and he recovers, proving it works. However things come to a head; Ginger goes to the Greenhouse Bash, the Halloween party at the Greenhouse while their mother finds the body at home. Picking up Brigitte she has a plan to burn down the house to hide the murder. Sam and Brigitte try to make a new monkshood dose, prevent Ginger transforming, Brigitte cutting herself to mix her blood with Ginger, but events are running out of control.

A werewolf horror film about being an outcast, about being a teen girl. And about being obsessed with your sister and not wanting to change. It’s also blackly funny at times, though the characters themselves take it very seriously. The transformation is probably more interesting than the actual werewolf.

Watch This: Good teen satire werewolf horror film
Don’t Watch This: Grindingly dark, occasionally gruesome, and that’s before the werewolf bits

6. Pulp (1972)

Mickey King (Michael Caine) lives in Malta, writes* thrillers under various names. He’s approached to write a biography (or perhaps ghostwrite an autobiography) for a mystery celebrity. He joins a tour bus, somewhere along the way he will be contacted. On the bus he meets Miller, who is reading one of his books and claims to be an American professor. At a hotel there’s a mix-up of rooms, Miller being given King’s. When King goes to find him, thinking he’s the most likely candidate for the contact, he finds him dead in the bathtub. The next morning no one has seen anything.

King’s picked up at some megalithic ruins by Liz, who takes him to the client. It’s Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney), a former Hollywood star, known for his roles as gangsters on screen, and his underworld connections off. Gilbert’s been given a terminal cancer diagnosis, so is now preparing a tell-all as he can no longer be threatened.

After some stories Gilbert goes to his favourite restaurant for a celebration meal with lots of friends, including Princess Cippola. Her husband, the Prince, has been contesting an election during the film, with marches and other events getting scenes without explanation. Gilbert performs a prank, pretending to be an incompetent waiter. Then King spots Miller, now dressed as a priest, and realises this could be dangerous. Miller shoots Gilbert, which everyone else thinks is another pranks which they applaud, allowing Miller to make his escape.

With Gilbert’s stories and other details, King works out the connection between Gilbert and the Prince, as well as other important locals, and the secret they killed him to keep. Having gone to get the last piece, he’s attacked by Miller, but manages to kill him. Having figured it out too late and left injured by the attack, the film ends on a cynical note that nothing apparently can be done.

This had the same director and producer as Caine’s hit from the previous year, Get Carter, a similarly noir-ish crime film. This though is light-hearted with a few good jokes, a bit of fumbling sex comedy, and a couple of over-obvious but mildly amusing scenes. The somewhat exotic locations do well, though sometimes the comedy slams straight into black cynical crimes.

Watch This: Moderately entertaining comedy and crime thriller
Don’t Watch This: Where the comedy works it distracts from the tension of the thriller bits

* He dictates them and has them typed by an agency; all women they get hot and bothered by his steamy love scenes.

7. The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

About 2000 years ago the Qin emperor unites China enslaving his enemies to build a Great Wall, burying their bodies underneath. He fears it will fall apart when he dies, so has the sorceress Zi Yuan and General Ming find the Oracle Bones to give him immortality. Ming and Zi Yuan fall in love and after Zi Yuan completes the ritual the jealous Emperor has Ming killed. Zi Yuan has lied about the ritual, which curses the Emperor and his army, burning them into terracotta.

In 1946 Alex O’Connell (see The Mummy Returns) and Professor Wilson find the tomb of the emperor. There are tricks, traps and a mystery woman attacks them; nevertheless they manage to take the terracotta Emperor in his chariot to Shanghai. Back in England his parents, Rick and Evelyn O’Connell, are bored by peacetime, so jump at the chance when the British government asks them to go to China to deliver a gemstone known as The Eye Of Shangri-La.

In Shanghai is Jonathan Carnahan who runs a fancy nightclub. He is keeping Alex’s presence in China a secret (his parents think he’s at university). Going to the museum to hand over the Eye to Professor Wilson they discover he’s working for General Yang and Colonel Choi, who plan to resurrect the Emperor using Shangri-La water from the eye, and then re-unite China. The Emperor comes back to life but keeps turning to terracotta again. He accepts Yang’s offer, kills Wilson and drives off in his chariot. The O’Connells and Lin, the mystery woman from earlier try and fail to stop him, join forces.

Everyone goes to the Himalayas where the secret entrance to Shangri-La is. Zi Yuan is still alive and there; Lin is her daughter; they have a magic dagger that can kill the emperor. Yang attacks with his troops, Yetis try to fight them off, Rick is wounded and healed by Zi Yuan. Despite their efforts the Emperor is able to get to the Shangri-La water which ends the curse, also turns him into a three-headed dragon. He steals the dagger and kidnaps Lin, returns to the tomb to raise his terracotta army. The others follow where Zi Yuan sacrifices her immortality to raise the dead of the Great Wall, including General Ming, for a final complex battle.

The third and, it turned out, final Mummy film, assuming you ignore the Scorpion King spin-offs. The O’Connells have been at it for 20 years and WW2 has passed. Apparently audiences aren’t worried about the Chinese Civil War, moving between the tomb outside the Great Wall (?), Shanghai and the Himalayas is just something you do, yet also China is in chaos, the Emperor is needed to re-unite. I mean I’ve complained about the ancient history of these films, I can have a pop at the more recent too. Anyway this was enjoyable, the improvement in CGI is noticeable, and if the film has, if anything, less to say that the earlier ones, it is at least a fun romp that uses some actual Asian actors.

Watch This: Fun historical not-quite-horror adventure romp
Don’t Watch This: Dubious history and a series that has had it’s best ideas

8. Dr Zhivago

General Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guinness) is at a dam that’s under construction in Soviet Russia. He’s looking for a young woman (Rita Tushingham) who he believes may be the daughter of his brother Dr Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara Antipova (Julie Christie). Dr Zhivago is now a famous and lauded poet, especially for his “Lara” cycle, though he has been out of favour previously. He tells the story of the two of them.

Zhivago was orphaned in Far East Russia, and brought up in Moscow by family friends, bringing only the family balalaika. Growing up to be both poet and doctor he becomes engaged to Tonya, the daughter of the family friends. Lara is also growing up with her mother in her dress shop. However her mother’s lover Komarovsky (Rod Steiger) is now trying to seduce her. Lara is engaged to Pasha Antipov, an idealistic student who is one of the organisers of a protest. After Pasha is injured by police, she treats his wound and hides his gun. The protest is dispersed by cavalry; Dr Zhivago treats some of the injured until ordered away.

(It’s winter 1913 as it turns out).

Lara’s mother learns that Komarovsky is courting her daughter and tries to commit suicide. Zhivago’s mentor is called out and brings Zhivago with him to see what General Practice is actually like at the sharp end. Zhivago meets Lara but the two are distracted. Komarovsky tries to dissuade Lara from marrying Pasha; when she refuses he rapes her. She retrieves the gun and shoots Komarovsky in the arm at a Christmas party. Pasha takes her away, marries her and the two go to the country.

World War One breaks out; Zhivago joins the army as a doctor. Pasha also joins the army, is a leader until he vanishes. Lara enlists as a nurse to try and find him. The army mutinies in what will become the Russian Revolution, and the war stops, with Zhivago and Lara running a hospital, and falling for each other though they remain faithful to their spouses. Eventually the men recover (or die, or are transferred) and the two return home.

With the revolution the family house is now filled with people, Zhivago’s wife, son and father-in-law living in one (big) room. Fuel and food are scares. Zhivago’s brother, now a Cheka officer, arranges for them to go to the family’s country house. Zhivago’s poems have unfortunately been declared anti-communist so it’s as well to go away and avoid scrutiny.

The train is stopped by Bolshevik forces commanded by Pasha, now going under the nom de guerre Strelnikov. The place they are going to is contested between White and Red forces. They move into a cottage (the main house has been seized by the local Bolshevik committee). Zhivago discovers that Lara lives in the closest town and they start an affair. When Tonya is about to have their second child he breaks it off to concentrate on her, only to be conscripted by a Bolshevik cavalry column to be their doctor.

Two years later he escapes, returns to find Tonya, the two children, and her father have fled to France, leaving a letter and belongings with Lara. Lara and Zhivago become lovers. Then they are contacted by Komarovsky who reveals that Bolsheviks are watching them as Strelnikov is under suspicion. He offers help to flee the country but they refuse, hiding out in the old house. There Zhivago writes his “Lara” cycle of poems.

Komarovsky returns. He’s been appointed to a position in the government of the(destined to be short-lived) Far Eastern Republic. Strelnikov has been captured, then killed when he tries to escape. Now they will arrest Lara unless they come with him. They leave but at the last minute Zhivago chooses not to go with them. Years later Zhivago meets his brother, who finds him a medical job, only for Zhivago to die of a heart attack when he sees Lara; Lara asks General Zhivago to find the daughter, which he now thinks he has though Lara has vanished.

A long film about a complicated romance against the even more complex backdrop of the Russian Revolution. How Zhivago is an acclaimed poet, then a reviled one, then acclaimed again, though we don’t see very much of his poetry (probably just as well). They’re doomed, but there’s also hope for the next generation (Russia/the lovers etc); the ruthless, even monstrous figures of the Russian Civil War are characters who are made before they lose their humanity.

Watch This: Epic romance encompassing life, death, tragedy, war, forgiveness and mystery
Don’t Watch This: Russian Revolution and Civil War the backdrop for two annoying lovers

9. No Time To Die (2021)

I wrote a very abbreviated review for this one back when I first saw it. Is there anything new to say? Is it worth the time?

Bond goes rogue of course, Daniel Craig keeps going rogue. He spends more time as a loose cannon than a secured one. Which is fair as MI6 has been going rogue itself. Not just the assassination nano-weapon that M (Ralph Fiennes) has created, though that’s certainly the case. Back in Casino Royale M (Judi Dench) said "Who the hell do they think they are? I report to the Prime Minister and even he's smart enough not to ask me what we do.” Spies have to break the rules to get things done. And because of that Bond manages to get his best friend (Felix Leiter) killed, and gets the stolen nano-weapon into the hands of his enemy.

I’d like to say that this is a cunning ploy by his enemy, but which one? Blofeld has an operative in the CIA to manipulate Bond into going to Cuba for his special revenge. And sure, he’s in prison, sending a guy with a gun might not work and he certainly wouldn’t have it livestreamed. But that operative is also working for Blofeld’s enemy Lyutsifer Safin, who is using the opportunity to kill all of SPECTRE, revenge himself on Blofeld. So why does he need Bond to get Dr Obrachev out? He could just walk away, catch the next plane to [disputed island between Japan and Russia].

It's perhaps asking a bit much from a film series where villains want to build a space laser, poison everyone from space, EMP London from space for a heist/revenge and, um, build another space laser, to make sense. But the Craig villains had an insidious logic to their plots, they were ruthless, driven by lust for revenge, maniacal even, yet you could understand their plan and how they thought their actions progressed towards them. Well, maybe not so much in SPECTRE, but still. Controlling the Nine Eyes intelligence alliance is a worthwhile scheme for a criminal organisation! This though, I don’t know.

Watch This: Action-packed thriller that offers some actual answers to the question – what is James Bond’s deal?
Don’t Watch This: I don’t really care about the answers and the film does not repay careful watching

10. Margrete: Queen Of The North

In 1402 Margrete has successfully united Denmark, Norway and Sweden in a union, ruled by her and her adoptive son King Erik. With the threat from the Germans, especially the Teutonic Knights, she has gathered the nobles who form the three councils of the kingdoms, to have them provide troops for a Union army. In addition an English ambassador has come to negotiate a marriage alliance between Erik and Princess Phillipa, daughter of Henry IV.

However a stranger has come, the Man From Graudenz, who claims to be King Oluf, Magrete’s son, believed dead 15 years before. She never saw the body; the realm was in crisis, and she had to meet the Swedish nobles. Witnesses are called, and she dispatches agents, a trusted retainer and Roar a pirate (who she previously used to stop the Germans supplying Gotland, and also took Astrid, a woman from him, reminding him that slavery has been banned). This shakes the court; Erik demands the Man From Graudenz be condemned for treason, the Norwegian councillors back Oluf.

A historical film about a real and mysterious incident. Most of the film is either small groups of people plotting in dark rooms or large groups of people holding audiences in brighter medieval rooms. But also there are some magnificent external shots that hold the attention, and one very good, if brutal fight in a stables. It’s about betrayal in the end, but also about commitment and sacrifice.

Watch This: Very fine historical drama with much to say about medieval politics, and also brutality
Don’t Watch This: Lots of people squabbling over Scandinavia, also sub-titles