Mandingo

Lame Hammond Maxwell goes to town and buys a proper Mandingo slave named Mede (beating a lonely German woman at the bidding), who he trains to be a fighter. Hammond has a thing for the female slaves himself, and his jealous wife decides to reciprocate by forcing herself on the strapping young buck. Hijinks, hilarity, and a bunch of other h-words ensue.

Standout performance by James Mason as straight-talking patriarch Warren Maxwell, whose untimely death was cheered by the bulk of the audience I saw this with, and sadly lamented by myself. Ingrained racist though he was, Maxwell seemed to be the only character in the film with a lick of good sense.

All sorts of good stuff in this one: bloodsport, slavery, mint juleps, abortions, lynchings. A real trip to the dilapidated mansions down south.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Mandingo (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [***__]
Retch : [*____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [***__]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [****_]

Scene Stealer: Topaz!

Demonlover

A European finance company is attempting to close a deal with a Japanese animation firm that specializes in hentai films. Problem: just about everyone in the European company is working for someone else, usually at odds with each other.

The corporate intrigue eventually becomes personal as the one of the true employers, the operator of a BDSM site at demonlover.com, begins to exert its control.

Well-acted, well-shot, with a love-it-or-hate-it Sonic Youth score. Tension is fairly consistent throughout, even though the plot is mainly concerned with white yuppies trying to drive each other crazy.

* * * R A T I N G * * *

Demonlover (IMDB)

Wince : [*____]
Flinch : [***__]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [*____]
Pornability : [***__]
Obscurity : [***__]
Explicability : [***__]

Diva

A postman makes a bootleg recording of an opera singer, steals her dress (I'd assumed to masturbate onto, and I wasn't far off), gets mixed up with a white slavery ring, and is pursued through Paris by a Taiwanese record label and a Carribean crime syndicate. Throw in a moped chase through the Metro and an underaged asian gal for good measure, and you end up with quite a good film.

There's a lot to like about this one : a throwing awl (a nice complement to Master of the Flying Guillotine's Indian throwing owl), a cat named Ayatollha, the Zen of toast. As the pace picks up, so does the cinematography, and towards the end of the film there are some very beautiful shots.


* * * R A T I N G * * *

Diva (IMDB)

Wince : [_____]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [_____]
Gape : [**___]

Beerequisite : [_____]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [*____]
Explicability : [***__]

Prime Cut

The first half of Friday's double-feature.

Lee Marvin versus Gene Hackman: the Chicago mob coming down on a Kansas City slaughterhouse owner/meatpacker, with the mob playing the sympathetic character, oddly enough. There's meat (do we see a theme here?), a combine-harvester, a sex slave auction, and no doubt about the outcome in this movie.

If you see one Lee Marvin vs Gene Hackman movie this year, make it this one.

* * * R A T I N G * * *
Prime Cut (IMDB)

Wince : [**___]
Flinch : [*____]
Retch : [**___]
Gape : [***__]

Beerequisite : [**___]
Pornability : [**___]
Obscurity : [**___]
Explicability : [****_]