"TWO FACES OF THE DOLLAR" (1967-ITALIAN) *** OUT OF ****

Most Spaghetti westerns are derivative, imitating the genre’s box office champs, specifically Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and Sergio Corbucci's "Django," and then later the “Trinity” horse operas. “Man from Oklahoma” director Roberto Bianchi Montero’s "Two Faces of the Dollar" borrows marginally from Leone's classic, but contains more plot and morality than those superficial, straightforward, gunnery range Spaghetti westerns. Mind you, "Two Faces of the Dollar" has no shortage of violent shootouts in the grand Spaghetti western tradition. Moreover, the filmmakers observe some of the now defunct Production Code rules. The film depicts cold blooded murder, premediated larceny, and reflects the venerable Production Code edict: crime doesn’t pay. Meantime, this 95-minute sagebrusher also crowds out gunplay with the logistics of an elaborately planned gold heist. Think “Mission Impossible.” Kudos to lenser Stelvio Massi. His first-rate, widescreen cinematography along with his novel use of zooms and pans enhances the film’s spectacle. Later, Massi would ascend to the director’s chair and distinguish himself with various poliziotteschi crime thrillers, notably “Convoy Busters” and “Emergency Squad.” At the same time, Giosy and Mario Capuano’s flavorful orchestral score evokes memories of Leone’s “For A Few Dollars More.” What our anti-heroes set out to accomplish mirrors John Huston’s revered crime classic “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950). Surprisingly, the Italians embrace a ‘crime doesn’t pay’ note, in the context of “The Asphalt Jungle!”

Story and screenplay scribes Alberto Silvestri of “Nick the Sting” and Franco Verucci of “No Way Out” conjure up a vivid gallery of characters. Furthermore, they pose stiff obstacles our thieves must contend with before they get away with the gold. First, they introduce us to a bespectacled professor, Matthew (Jacques Herlin of “Secret Agent Super Dragon”), who idolizes clocks. He has devised an audacious plan to steal a fortune in gold stored at Fort Henderson. Although it remains under lock and guard in a separate room, Matthew orchestrates the theft in broad daylight inside the fort during a camp inspection. He has recruited three accomplices, two men and a woman. First, he convinces a sharp-shooting gunslinger, Django (Maurice Poli of “Battle of the Damned,” aka Monty Greenwood), who prizes the qualities of a Navy Colt revolver, to join him. Second, he enlists the aid of a disgraced army officer, the treacherous Blackgrave (Gérard Herter of “Adios, Sabata”), who shares Django’s relish for Navy Colts. Blackgrave must impersonate the colonel scheduled to inspect the fort. Once they enter the fort, Blackgrave and Django perform all the heavy lifting and later the ensuing gunplay when they cross the border. Third, he solicits the help of a buxom babe, Jane (Gabriella Giorgelli of “Moving Target”), who relies of her charms to seduce lusty males. This turns out to be the first flaw in Matthew’s plan. He chose Jane because she knew the former quartermaster. After her arrival at the stockade, the current quartermaster informs her about Felix’s death. Initially, the new quartermaster insists she leave. Naturally, she appeals to him and hangs around long enough to carry out her part in the robbery. Moreover, Matthew has painstakingly created a persona for himself that will enable them escape with the gold, even under the noses of a fort bristling with soldiers! Earlier, at the local bank, Matthew tried without success to cash in bags of dirt he had mistaken for gold. He has done it so often everybody considers him a fool. Indeed, Matthew grooms this persona until the thieves possess the gold. Earlier, Blackgrave had turned his horse loose in the desert, so he flag down the stagecoach transporting Colonel Talbert (Andrea Bosic of “Sandokan the Great”) to Fort Henderson for his camp inspection. During their conversation, Blackgrave assembles his Navy Colt. He guns down the officer traveling with Talbert without a qualm. Afterward, he faces off with Talbert in an old-fashioned duel and kills the colonel. Fortunately, during their conversation, Blackgrave had learned from Talbert that the latter had never visited Fort Henderson, so nobody would be able to challenge his identity. Indeed, after he kills the colonel in a duel, Blackgrave dons Talbert’s uniform and masquerades as him. At the fort, he informs the commandant that he plans to rest before he launches his inspection. Meantime, posing as a drunken Mexican, Django charges recklessly into the fort and picks a fight with a brawny sergeant. Promptly, the soldiers lock him up in the guardhouse. Later, Django tempts a guard to enter his cell when he catches the soldier admiring his watch. Django overpowers the guard and prepares to play his part in helping Blackgrave steal the gold.

Basically, Blackgrave and Django work inside the fort to remove the gold. Blackgrave dodges an inquisitive officer, Lt. Benjamin Sinclair (Andrea Scotti of “Operation Poker”), who may have recognized him from his shady past. Meantime, Django struggles with another sergeant who tries to thwart his efforts to steal the gold. Later, when a soldier discovers Jane and tries to alert the post about her, Blackgrave gunned him down in front of everybody. Blackgrave justifies shooting the soldier because he recognized the man as an arsonist. Meantime, to facilitate loading the sacks of gold onto Matthew’s wagon, Blackgrave orders the fort commander to dispatch troopers to help Matthew load up. Montero and his writers rarely let Matthew and his accomplices off the hook. Once they have left the fort, greed prompts them to double-cross each other. Later, after they reach the border, they discover Lt. Sinclair has hired a gang of desperadoes to help him seize the gold. A nighttime gunfight in an abandoned border town ensues, with our protagonists mowing down the villains. Nevertheless, unexpected trouble lies ahead for Django, Blackgrave, and Matthew. “Two Faces of the Dollar” ends on an ironic note for a Spaghetti western: crime doesn’t pay.  

"ALIEN" (1979) **** OUT OF ****

“Duelists” director Ridley Scott's "Alien" ranks as one of the greatest sci-fi horror sagas of all time. If you haven't seen this landmark epic that spawned a franchise, then you haven't experienced genuine icy cold dread. Happily, the years haven't robbed this terrific gem of its skin crawling repulsion. Several sequels followed in its wake, but only James Cameron's "Aliens" came close to replicating the original's intensity. Like any suspenseful film, "Alien" boasts several surprises that will catch you off guard and send shivers down your spine. Most of the action is confined to the murky confines of a shadowy mining company spacecraft with passages galore. Reportedly, Scott and scenarist Dan O'Bannon knew nothing about director Edward L. Cahn's "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958) and Mario Bava's "Planet of the Vampires" (1964) with Barry Sullivan. Nevertheless, though neither had seen either film, it is easy to see the resemblance in the plots between "Alien" and edgy Cahn's epic where a monster boards a spacecraft before it blasts off into space and the crew spent the entire flight waging a life and death war with the monster as it corners the heroes. On the other hand, the set design in the Bava film seems virtually replicated in Scott's film. Mind you, neither of those two inspirations is anywhere near as chilling as "Alien." The eponymous monster is a memorable predator that you’ll never forget. Indeed, coursing through the veins of this lethal life-form is acid that eats its way through the metal hull of the ship.

Scott's atmospheric film takes place in the year 2122. The commercial cargo vessel the Nostromo is heading home when Mother, the ship's computer, receives an SOS distress signal and awakens the seven-member crew from hyper-sleep in their individual sleeping pods. Reluctantly, they hasten to a planet to investigate the signal. They land on this inhospitable planet and check things out. One of the crew, Kane (John Hurt of "Heaven's Gate") finds himself in an eerie setting, a garden within the hull of a derelict space ship that contains curious organisms in small silos. Kane makes the fatal mistake of scrutinizing one of them and the dome shape of it peels itself back ominously and then something icky surges out of it, smashing through the face plate of his helmet. This unsavory organism attaches itself to Kane's face, while another part of it plunges down his gullet, while its snake-like tail coils around his neck. Kane's shipmates rush their fallen colleague back aboard the Nostromo despite the protests of Science Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver of "Ghostbusters") who doesn't think Kane should be brought aboard. Ripley fears Kane has been infected with something hazardous. Nostromo ship captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt of "M. A. S. H.") intervenes on Kane's behalf and allows him to be brought aboard. They confine Kane to quarantine, so they can analyze the mysterious creature clinging tenaciously to his face. Miraculously, the creature strangling Kane releases him, collapses to the floor, and scuttles away like eerie vermin. Kane revives none the worse for wear, and everybody celebrates his recovery.

At best, the sense of relief proves at best ephemeral. While the crew is indulging in a gluttonous repast, Kane coughs and then sprawls onto their table and goes into a palsy. As his shipmates struggle to restrain him, Kane heaves and a pickle-shaped demon erupts from his chest and tears off into the shop. At this point, the dwarf-like critter grows into a huge, ugly creature with a double-set of ravenous jaws. One by one, it eliminates the shipmates until only Ripley is left. In this respect, Scott's grisly film resembles a slasher film because Ripley qualifies as 'the final girl.' Ripley manages to activate the self-destruction phase, after she rescues her cat, and slips into an escape shuttle. Unfortunately, Dallas dies during the final moments after the self-destruct sequence is set into motion. Ripley and Jones make it into the shuttle and prepare for the long voyage back to Earth. Little does poor Ripley realize that the alien beast escaped from the Nostromo before it was obliterated. Eventually, she is able to blow the monster out of the shuttle. "Alien" garnered an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Jerry Goldsmith’s orchestral score heightens the suspense and terror. “Alien” used the following line in its advertising campaign: In space nobody can hear you scream!

MARIA (2019) **** OUT OF ****

Filipino film director Pedring A. Lopez’s fearsome but formulaic female revenge thriller “Maria,” headlining Christina Reyes, makes the gun-toting, blade-wielding, karate chopping dames in “La Femme Nitika,” “Peppermint,” “Atomic Blonde,” and “Anya” look like Girl Scouts soliciting for their annual cookie drive. Clocking in at a nimble 90 minutes, “Maria” never wears out its welcome, though it relies primarily on an inventory of cliches to propel its ballistic yarn. Several factors distinguish this low budget actioneer and enhance its spectacle, principally a persuasive cast, acrobatic combat choreography, atmospheric settings, a sympathetic heroine, thoroughly despicable villains, and some extreme violence in its depiction of its unsavory subject matter. Sensitive souls who abhor graphic violence should skip this bloodthirsty carnage in this martial-arts action thriller.

“Maria” follows the unfortunate fate of a Filipino assassin formerly known as the Black Rose assassin Lily. Our courageous heroine staged her own death, so she could quit the cartel, disappear into obscurity, and start a family. Guess her hormones were crying out to her. Now, after seven years, things are looking pretty rosy for our protagonist. Maria has  married Bert (Guji Lorenzana of “Silong”) who is a decent guy. They have a rambunctious daughter, Min-Min (Johanna Rish Tongcua of “Once Before”) and they indulge her every whim. Predictably, Lopez presents a portrait of domestic family bliss fuzzy with sentiment. Meantime, the Black Rose cartel that Maria deserted is monitoring a controversial gubernatorial race. They don’t like the way things is shaping up and they send their henchmen out to cover it. Maria’s old lover Kaleb (Germaine De Leon of “Here Comes the Boom”) from her Black Rose days reacts with understandable shock when he spots her in a picture at a rally taken by one of his henchmen. Immediately, Kaleb informs his father, the chieftain of the Black Rose cartel, Ricardo  (Freddy Webb of “Etiquette for Mistresses”), about his alarming discovery. Although Kaleb vows to liquidate the dame himself for her treachery, Victor (KC Montero of “Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2”) has nothing but contempt for Ricardo’s son. Nevertheless, Kaleb and his gunmen crash Maria’s house without warning and gun down not only Bert but also kill Min-Min! Now, there is no going backwards. Maria vows to rub out her enemies with extreme prejudice, no matter how long it takes her. She convinces her mentor, Greg (Ronnie Lazaro of “Gospel of the Beast”), to provide her with not only sanctuary but also furnish her with an arsenal of weapons to wage her own private war. The only thing keeping Greg from suffering reprisals for aiding and abetting Maria is a gentleman’s agreement with the Black Rose cartel. Imagine that: honor among these thieves.

You’ve seen this kind of high body count thriller dozens of time. What “Maria” lacks in originality, Lopez more than compensates with blood, gore, and more. Moreover, this predictable but exciting yarn never runs out of steam. Of course, Maria whips everybody’s butts! No surprises there! Nevertheless, the violence in the cartel scenes is pretty toxic. Ricardo loves to torture those whom he suspects are traitors within his ranks. Moreover, he  is prepared to do some rather vile things. We see two hefty fellows strung up like beef in a slaughter house who have been beaten half to death. The cartel chieftain is chewing them out before he has two cute little babes with automatic pistols clean the wax out of their ears with lead! The CGI splashes of blood are brief but punctual! Later, the cartel torture a naked man strewn on a table. After beating the poor soul to a pulp but not enough to loosen his tongue, they resort to a mechanical enema, thrusting a rod up his anus. Yes, the guy screams like a stuck hog.  Indeed, if you’ve ever endured a prostrate biopsy, you can sympathize with this fellow’s plight. Granted, these scenes are excessive, but they prove that the Black Rose cartel is not a Sunday School outfit. Their indifference to murder in all forms is clearly sociopathic. Sensitive souls may shrink from these scenes. If ever a mob needed massacring, the Black Rose does and it gets its just comeuppance. As the alpha female, Christina Reyes lives up to her reputation and thwarts her old employers. Word is a sequel is in the works, too.

THE BATMAN (2022) **** OUT OF ****

Prepare yourself for a different kind of Caped Crusader in "The Batman" as a ripped Robert Pattinson dons the cape and cowl. A grave looking Bruce Wayne wonders after two years of crime fighting if he is making a difference. Pattinson's version of Bruce Wayne may be the youngest iteration of The Batman. In fact, he refers to himself as 'Vengeance' rather than Batman and spends more time on crime than climbing the social ladder. Get ready for some heavyweight drama, too. "Cloverfield" writer & director Matt Reeves and "Hunger Games" co-scripter Peter Craig put Pattinson through the wringer in what amounts to a "Mad Max" spin on the Detective Comics hero. Awash in shadowy 1940s film noir lighting, nothing about "The Batman" is either lighthearted or romantic. Gotham City is a sinister Sodom and Gomorrah on the eve of a critical mayoral election. This grim murder mystery about byzantine corruption in both the police department and the district attorney's office has a sliver of the sadistic "Saw" franchise in its DNA. A nonentity who calls himself 'the Riddler' wants to wash away all that evil with some Old Testament retribution. Meantime, The Batman encounters slinky Selina Kyle, (Zoë Kravitz of "X-Men: First Class"), aka Catwoman, who is searching for a friend gone missing. Predictably, the Bat and the Cat team up for different reasons to contend with a hazmat clad Riddler who looks nothing like the spandex-clad Jim Carrey in "Batman Forever" (1995). Watching this grim, serious-minded melodrama, you'll feel like you're caught in a storm without an umbrella because "The Batman" is dark, rainy and ominous. Basically, you'd need a hacksaw to carve the doom-laden atmosphere, especially when it clocks in at 176 marathon minutes. Reeves deliberately takes his time piecing together each part of the puzzling plot without giving away anything. Oscar-winning "Up" composer Michael Giacchino's orchestral score heightens both the suspense and sharpens the chills with a variety of musical cues.

"The Batman" feels more like David Fincher's serial killer thriller "Se7en" (1995), co-starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, than a luminescent, lightweight, costume-clad crimefighting caper. Mind you, nobody has solved the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne twenty years before, and the tragedy still clouds Bruce Wayne's psyche. We see this younger version of Bruce suited up more often as The Batman rather than modeling the latest sartorial fashions with a gold digger hanging onto his elbow. Crime preoccupies The Batman, and he has trouble keeping out of trouble with the Gotham City Police. Although he has won the trust and support of Detective Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright of "No Time to Die"), most of Gordon's skeptical superiors and subordinates regard the Caped Crusader with considerable suspicion. Mind you, the criminal element have even less use for him. Blue collar crooks cringe when the Bat signal illuminates the skies. Mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro of "The Big Lebowski") and the Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell of "Daredevil") dismiss The Batman as a rank amateur. Carmine knew Bruce Wayne when the latter was a child, but he doesn't suspect the orphaned Wayne is The Batman. Neither does Carmine take Selina Kyle seriously either. Actually, she serves drinks in the Penguin's shady nightclub that serves as a front for Carmine's minions. Rarely do we see The Riddler (a bespectacled Paul Dano of "Swiss Army Man") until the last half hour. He doesn't appear very intimidating and that makes him seem twice as intimidating. The Riddler's riddles aren't bright and witty, but dark and dangerous. He has orchestrated a massive maneuver that makes the January 6th riot at the Capitol in Washington, D. C. look like child's play. The huge difference here is writer & director Matt Reeves makes everything appear both plausible and chilling in its audacity. No, extraterrestrials don't enter the fray like in "Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016) or either version of "Justice League" (2017).

"The Batman" begins as a slow burn whodunit as our protagonist assembles clues, but there is no shortage of action. This Batman isn't afraid to tango even when the opposition outnumber him. The harrowing demolition derby freeway chase through Gotham City with The Batman hauling butt after the Penguin is a genuine showstopper. The new, stripped-down, Batmobile muscle car looks nothing like any earlier incarnations of the renowned vehicle. Indeed, this Batmobile has a predatory appearance. Interestingly enough, The Batman relies on his trusty Bat motorcycle to zip from here to there with his cape fluttering in the breeze. Reeves doesn't dwell on many Batman gadgets like a James Bond thriller. While Reeves and Craig are more focused on narrative realism, they equip our hero with some clever gadgets. For example, the smart contact lenses with built-in cameras that recognize and identify people are extraordinary. Occasionally, things don't always work out as smoothly for our hero as he expects them. The scene where The Batman BASE jumps from a skyscraper at night to elude capture goes awry when he deploys his parachute too early. Reeves and Craig surround Pattinson with a sterling cast of infamous characters, and they put the Caped Crusader into some predicaments he cannot get out of even with his gadgetry. Unlike previous incarnations of Batman, Pattinson will have the chance to age in the role, because Warner Brothers has signed him up for a trilogy. He has the tenacity of Michael Keaton's Batman, the guile of Christian Bale's Batman, but he lacks the brawn of Ben Affleck's Batman. Nevertheless, in his freshman outing, Pattinson looks like he has gotten off on the right foot. All quibbles aside, "The Batman" is off to a promising start!

THE WAGES OF FEAR (FRENCH-2024) *** OUT OF ****

No, “Earth and Blood” director Julien Leclercq’s remake of “The Wages of Fear” doesn’t eclipse the grim, black & white, Henri-Georges Clouzot original made in 1953, starring Yves Montand. Nevertheless, Leclercq generates more than enough thrills and chills to keep spectators poised on the edge of their collective seats during its brisk 104-minute runtime. This taut tale chronicles the Herculean efforts of a group of desperate men and a woman driving trucks laden with Nitroglycerin across treacherous terrain to snuff out a calamitous oil well fire. Earlier, terrorists had sparked this blaze when they attacked the site to keep it from being resupplied. Mind you, Leclercq’s version should not be dismissed entirely as disposable. “Cannabis” scenarist Hamid Hlioua and he have reimagined this classic Man versus Nature showdown with similar but different predicaments. Shrewdly, they have altered elements of Clouzot’s masterpiece without tampering with the basic premise. This sprawling spectacle of men against insurmountable odds accomplishing a virtually impossible mission amounts to a tribute to Clouzot’s masterpiece.

The chief difference between this version and previous ones is the setting. Unlike the South American locales in both Clouzot’s classic and William Friedkin’s dazzling remake “Sorcerer” (1977), Leclercq and Hlioua shift the setting to an anonymous Middle Eastern nation bristling with heavily armed rebels, corrupt military officials, and lethal minefields. Specifically, Leclercq lensed this epic in Morocco with its sprawling desert wastelands and towering mountains. Our gritty heroes and heroine must brave an obstacle course consisting not only of an arid desert with mountainous terrain but also trigger-happy gunmen at roadblocks and gimlet-eyed female snipers who kill without a qualm. Were it not harrowing enough, the drivers must cover about 500 miles in under 20 hours to deliver a sufficient amount of nitro to quench the blaze! Two trucks transporting more than enough nitro to excavate another Grand Canyon constitute part of this small convoy. Several armed guards accompany these intrepid truckers, but at least one of them is untrustworthy. Everybody displays credentials that identify them as medical relief personnel. Similarly, they plaster their vehicles with medical relief emblems.
Appropriately enough, Leclercq and Hlioua whittle down the number of characters gradually from the get-go until only a couple survive this white-knuckled odyssey with its nail-biting timetable.
Basically, the premise hasn’t changed much since the 1953 original. An oil well inferno rages out of control in the middle of the desert. Leclercq and Hlioua have upped the ante considerably. Now not only will the well eventually explode, but also the explosion will obliterate an entire village of innocent souls. The clock is literally ticking as our heroes and heroine embark on their mission of mercy. The heroes in Leclercq’s version differ considerably. In both, Clouzot’s original and Friedkin’s remake, the protagonists were destitute individuals. Owing to their extreme character flaws and the hand of fate, these men turned their backs on civilized society and fled to a sanctuary deep in the South American jungles. They gambled that neither the authorities nor any other adversaries looking for payback would follow them to the ends of the earth.
In the Netflix remake, our protagonists are siblings caught up in slightly better circumstances. Fred (Franck Gastambide of “Restless”) and Alex (Alban Lenoir of “AKA”) have reconciled after a tragic incident that landed his brother in prison. Initially, a wealthy client had paid Fred to get him aboard a flight out of a country teetering on the brink of a revolution. Before they could leave, the military gunned down Fred’s client. Earlier, before this man of affluence died, he had paid Fred for his services. When his client wasn’t looking, Fred caught a glimpse of huge stacks of currency which were crammed in the safe. Since the military knew nothing about this loot, Fred wasn’t about to leave this payday behind for them to discover.
After the soldiers shot his client, Fred told Alex about the cache. With this fortune, Fred assured Alex they could return to Paris and live like kings. Moreover, he convinced his reluctant brother to blow the safe because the risks were minimal. Unlike Fred, Alex has a wife and child to consider. Fred had posted himself outside the building as a guard and had watched in mute horror when the soldiers stormed it. Alex had commenced the countdown to blow the safe when the soldiers surprised him. This part of the plot appears in two flashbacks that explain why the brothers were separated. Afterward, the military arrested and imprisoned Alex in a barbaric prison where he was forced to fight his fellow prisoners to survive. Since he is an explosives expert, the corrupt oil company bribed prison officials to release Alex. The brothers resolved their differences and embarked on this journey of hardship. Basically, the relationship between Fred and Alex amounts to this remake’s weakest element because it is rather contrived. Another major departure from Leclercq’s film and the earlier versions is a woman, Clara (Ana Girardot of “Saint Amour”), who accompanies them on this road trip through Hell. Clara is Fred’s girlfriend, and she comes along for the ride as one of the medical assistants.

Of course, Leclercq’s “Wages of Fear” suffers from other contrivances. At one point, a bandit with a machine gun mounted atop a pick-up truck careens after the convoy along a switchback road. The gunner pours a hail of lead into one of the trucks. Miraculously, none of his ill-aimed bullets strike the nitro in either of the vehicles! Had either truck been hit, the entire convoy would have been atomized in a fiery cloud of smoke. Now, the villains could not have destroyed the convoy, otherwise the movie would concluded on an anticlimactic note. Later, the brothers must clear a road sewn with land mines using a spider web of chains to find the mines. Although it suffers from its share of weaknesses, Netflix’s “Wages of Fear” qualifies as an entertaining epic with a stalwart cast and several genuinely traumatic moments.