LIE #7: The Director as Metaphorical Henchman (a reassessment of Peckinpah’s “The Killer Elite”)

The Killer Elite (1975; Sam Peckinpah) is hardly flawless, but Peckinpah’s much maligned anti-spy meta-thriller is worth another look—especially if, like me, you’d seen it ages ago, didn’t quite like it then—

and then recently wondered why you didn’t like it.

LIE #6: Henri-Georges Clouzot Goes to Hell

Clouzot’s Inferno (L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot; 2009; Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea) is an informative, warts-and-all documentary covering the legendary and controversial French film director Henri-Georges Clouzot and his great (or infamous) unfinished, nearly fatal film, aptly titled L’enfer (Inferno).

LIE #5: The Wolf is Not at the Door, It Has Eaten It! (The Door to Your Subconscious, That Is….)—a review of Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” (1968)

[This post is part of the Viewer Vomit #7 blogothon organized by The Moon Is a Dead World. And make sure to check out the various links to other bloggers' reviews; some very interesting viewpoints out there indeed.]

Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen; 1968; Ingmar Bergman) is an anguished, painful, intense film that had been made with exquisite precision.

I’m willing to admit that this is a film I do not “get” intellectually; but emotionally it gets under your skin—or it did to me, at least—disturbing and confusing this viewer, leaving much food for thought—and worries about sleepless nights.

An incredibly personal film, full of dense symbology unique to itself, Hour of the Wolf is the result of director Bergman trying to make sense of a nervous breakdown he had at the time.

LIE #4: Horror! The Zombie Gates of Hell Gate

The Gate (1987; Tibor Takacs) is an insightful and honest look at pre-adolescent growing pains, with incredibly realistic performances by its child cast (it never feels like “acting”)—rolled into a fantasy/horror films with goblins, stop-motion demon lords, and a portal to a sinister dimension.

LIE# 3: You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide (a review of DVD MIA: “Figures in a Landscape”)

Figures in a Landscape (1970; Joseph Losey) Done right, this could have been an incredible combo of Walter Hill and Samuel Beckett—

The plot is fantastically simple: Two men (Robert Shaw & Malcolm McDowell—what a cast, right?), with their hands tied behind them, are on the run, with a helicopter chasing them.

And that's it.

LIE #2: The Drowned City (and DVD MIA in US: “The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse”)

Speaking of the weather (I warned you in LIE #1 that I just might do this!):

As far as I’m concerned, NYC and the Tri-State Area should accept the fact that it now has a Monsoon Season. 

Every day in late-Spring/early-Summer, for at least an hour a day, we get a heavy downpour.

Often followed by bright sunshine, and later an incredible sunset, thankfully.

But sometimes we get rain for days on end—totally grey skies and drip, drip, drip from all the humidity. It’s starts making you think you’re John Doe in Seven….

LIE#1 (with a review of DVD MIA “The Day of the Beast”)

LAUNCH!
Welcome to 
LERNER INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISES—

Much in the same way Advanced Idea Mechanics was an offshoot of HYDRA,
This is an offshoot/spin-off of (sequel to?)
The United Provinces of Ivanlandia,
& this site intends to be more straightforward than its schizo-lysergic-manic big brother.
LERNER INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISES will be an attempt to publish more, editorialize more, and concentrate on the writing.

All matters of interest will be covered, but
primarily LIE will be covering films, and how they might relate to my evolving theories regarding The Cinema of Weirdness.