Overview: Dario Argento [Suspiria] returns with this giallo for the digital age. In The Card Player online gambling comes with a hefty price. Your life!
A serial killer, at large in Rome, plays a deadly game with the city's police. For every woman he kidnaps, the investigating officers are given the chance to win them back by entering a game of online poker, though losing results in the ultimate price being paid. Will the police uncover the killer's identity before he deals his next victim?
Featuring all the signature spectacle and gut-churning violence for which he is synonymous, The Card Player is another deliriously stylish thriller from director Argento.
Thoughts: As a fan of giallos, I thought I would check out Argento's 2004 serial killer thriller The Card Player set in Rome, despite reading a good share of negative reviews. British detective John Brennan (played by Ian Cunningham) teams up with Italian detective Anna Mari (played by Stefania Rocca) in what turns out to be a reasonably good effort by Argento where he manages a decent storyline, with some good death scenes without having to resort to loud noises and copious amounts of CGI to distress the viewer. The majority of the secondary cast unfortunately bring the film down a little and I'm sure whoever did the casting could've found more talented actors to fill in these roles. The storyline, whilst generally following a formulaic route, succeeds with an unexpected ending and the soundtrack is utilised very well (as always for Argento). This is far from Argento's best work, but it's better than the critics say and it's definately worthy of a look at least, especially if you're a fan of giallos. 3/5
Genre: Action Director: Russ Meyer Rating: 18 (British dvd) Length: 1h23 Video: Full Frame (it's the original theatrical ratio) Audio: English Subtitles: None
Stars: Tura Satana Haji Lori Williams Sue Bernard Stuart Lancaster
Plot: Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! is the story of a new breed of superwomen...three buxom go-go girls: Varla, Rosie, and Billie, wildly dancing the watusi before the leers jeers and lecherous come-ons of their drooling all-male audience. The violence, implicit in the girls' tease, is quickly moved out of the microcosmic bar into the outside world as they literally let go of themselves, embarking on a wild, violent, deadly journey of vengeance on all men. Varla, the outrageously abundant karate master leader of the pack, breaks the arms and back of one man, runs her Porsche over two others, grinds a fourth, a muscleman, against a wall and, eventually, deliberately goes down the path of her own self-destruction, dragging her two buxotic cohorts along with her.
My Thoughts:
This is probably the most known of the Russ Meyer's movies, not my favorite personally (Vixen and Good Morning... and Goodbye! are) but this is a great film anyway. As you can understand from the synopsis this is a girl power movie and in 1965 that was not something common. Those girls are sure tough and can defend themselves (Tura Satana beat the crap of all the men in this film with her bare hand, she really does the fight herself and those fight are great) and are sure good looking also (ok not really miss Satana), by the way Haji is French Canadian so it's a natural (common after the Asian, our women are the most beautifull one in the world). Surprisingly for a Russ Meyer's film there are no nudity in this film at all, but I don't feel it was necessary for this movie since it's about how those girls can kick ass. The acting without being great is corect, but the bad italian accent that Haji use sure make her lines very hard to understand for me
Maybe the fact it's a black and white film will make some people run from it, but let me tell you one thing : If you do this you will miss one of the best drive-in movie ever made.
Definitely a good episode... I enjoyed it. It was fun to see Ray out of his element. One thing that did bug me a little... either the wolf is deaf or he is not deaf. In this episode... if the wolf was deaf how would he come running by Fraser hollering out that they were leaving and were not coming back (beginning of the episode). But I shouldn't be surprised as they are always putting little things in there as if the wolf could hear. just not quite this blatant about it.
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May 17, 2024, 10:41:54 AM
