Who really is Diabolik, the ruthless Italian comic book antihero? The final chapter of the Manetti Bros. adaptation sets out to find the answer. Taking a leap in time to the 1970s, a period of unrest marked by the Vallanzasca and Magliana gangs, student protests and street killings. The story begins with car chases and machine gun shots that leave innocent victims dead on the street. It’s not Diabolik pulling the trigger, as he has his own code of ‘professional’ ethics and only kills when necessary. Instead, it’s a gang of criminals responsible for the bloodshed, wreaking havoc in the city with gratuitous and unscrupulous violence. Captured by the gang, Diabolik and his nemesis, Inspector Ginko, find themselves locked in a cell with no way out.
Go Gorilla Go is probably most notable for its strange title, and this carries over into the film; as while it takes obvious inspiration from some big genre classics; the film features some strange plotting and a storyline that is a bit unusual on genre terms. Director Tonino Valerii previously directed the excellent but complicated Giallo My Dear Killer and clearly has a talent for delivering convoluted story lines as Go Gorilla Go features one too! The film focuses on Marco; an undercover police officer who is also working as a body guard for a shady underworld figure. He's also got a brother who is not exactly squeaky clean and has contacts with a few other 'Gorillas' who are in the same line as he is. It's not long before our hero gets involved in a kidnap plot along with his brother and his underworld boss and this plot is ran parallel with a load of others and the whole thing gets rather complicated. Luckily, however, it's all spun together with a whole load of action scenes; many of which are really well done. We've got the usual compliment of car chases and fist fights, but the main standout is a sequence that sees the lead character trapped in an elevator with the bottom taken out. The final car chase, which involves a train a la The French Connection, is also very well executed. The lead role is taken by Fabio Testi and the actor looks the part and plays it well. The rest of the cast is filled out mostly by lesser known Italian actors, but they get on well as an ensemble and bad dubbing aside, the film is above average in the acting department. The way that the story flows does get a bit too confusing at times as we constantly switch from one thing to another, but at least the proceedings are kept entertaining for most of the duration, before exploding in the final third. This film is not very well known and as such has become rather hard to come by. In the grand spectrum of Italian police films; this one is not one of the more important ones or one of the best, but for anyone that considers themselves a fan of this genre; Go Gorilla Go is certainly worth a look and comes recommended.
In a time now lost in the mists of memory, the great King Arthur rules in the legendary citadel that is Camelot. His Knights of the Round Table perform acts of derring-do and spend their spare time jousting, much to the delight of the local citizens and especially to Princess Ilene, a guest at Camelot. Watching her from afar is a young, inexperienced squire called Valiant, and when the young Welsh princess is sent home to marry Prince Arn, Valiant contrives to accompany her masquerading as Sir Gawain. Meanwhile, the evil sorceress Morgan le Fey, sister to King Arthur, has convinced the tyrannical Sligon, ruler of the Viking kingdom of Thule, that he should steal Arthur's sword, the powerful and magical Excalibur, knowing that its loss could bring about Arthur's downfall. So into the fray comes Sligon's unstable and psychotic brother Thagnar, who manages to steal the sword. Pandemonium reigns. But Valiant is having problems of his own - kidnappers attempt to steal away the Princess, and after various skirmishes, including one with a mysterious character who lives in a cave and purloins treasure, women and other things of value, Valiant manages to return the Princess to her homeland - although he also manages to have a duel with the Princess' jealous fiancé, Prince Arn. All things converge as Valiant is finally informed of his heritage by the stranger from the cave... Boltar of Thule. He informs the lad that he is Prince Valiant, rightful heir to the kingdom of Thule, and with his help, Valiant returns to the land of his birth to rightfully claim what is his.
Alice (Kristanna Loken) is a ghostwriter for a famous bestselling author. She is half through the work of the his new book, but cannot write anymore. A year before she has had a terrible accident in Malta where she was staying with her husband Max (Antonio Cupo) in his family villa and she was in a coma for two weeks. On waking up she had lost part of her memory and has no recollection of the accident and her stay in Malta. Since then, she has been suffering from depression and has recurrent and cryptic nightmares. Max who is her agent as well persuades her to go back to Malta hoping that something will unblock her mind so she can start working again and meet the last delivery deadline the publisher has given her. In the beautiful Maltese villa surrounded by lemon trees, they are welcomed by a stunning Mediterranean girl Sara (Sarai Givaty) Max has hired to help around the house. the girl immediately establishes a friendship and trust with Alice. Two different women, one sensual and self-assured, the other mysterious and insecure... In the meantime, another stranger Castellano (Giulio Berruti) is snooping around the villa, spying Sara, talking to Alice and exchanging items with a local policeman. Are ours characters really who we think they are? Is there a different version of the truth ?All is about to be seen ...
The movie is generally lacking in character development. The film at one point follows the creepiest-looking gangster (Flavio Bucci from the "The Night Train Murders") to his home where he is shacking up with another gangster's wife and her kid, but more than character development this seems to be more an excuse for another sex scene. The Placido character has an interesting flashback of him working on a filthy fishing barge, which is contrasted with a fantasy where he is piloting a yacht. This movie is very class-conscious in the way it has this poor Sicilian boy falling for a rich, northern girl (the Italian title "La Orca" comes from the designer outfit she's wearing). Placido is pretty good here, but this handsome, light-complexioned hunk is not too convincing as a lower-class Sicilian ruffian. As for Neihaus, I can't decide if she is a bad actress, or is just playing a really obnoxious character (she's more Paris Hilton than Patty Hearst). She does get naked several times which, judging from the English, title was the primary consideration.
During one fatal afternoon in an empty elementary school the two mothers of Armand (6) and Jon (6) get into a desperate fight to be believed when one son is accused of crossing boundaries against the other. All means are used, and soon a blend of madness, desire and obsession arises. Where the truth lies is impossible to know, and soon everything evolves less and less around the children, who we never meet, and more about the adults.
In every movie that he watches, 16-year-old Andoy creates narratives that could help him find answers to the questions that have always bothered him: Who is he and who is his father? While the truth remains elusive, his imaginings remain unrealized until two movie-like characters appear in their barrio - Ariel, a hairdresser who lures young men with his inexplicable charm, and Isidro, a mysterious, long-haired man who owns a VCD player. Andoy finds himself entranced with Ariel and Isidro and begins to spend intimate time with them. As he gets entangled with their twisted lives, his reality becomes mystified. Just like the movies, Andoy must decide whether to conclude his years-long search for his father with a bang or with a whimper.
Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists. But courageous reporters continue to do their work regardless; without the press there would be no one revealing the extent to which crime and politics are intermingled. The judicial system hides behind claims of insufficient evidence to prosecute crimes, while journalists are the ones who provide such evidence. In State of Silence four journalists discuss their work. One of them investigates illegal logging and environmental pollution, while another writes about police violence against migrants attempting to cross the border. The risks are great, and threats are commonplace. Almost 200 reporters have disappeared or been murdered since 2000. A law was passed under President López Obrador enabling journalists and human rights activists to seek refuge in the US—but doesn’t leaving everything that you love behind you, mean the criminals have won? Some of the journalists return to Mexico because their work is too important. “When a journalist is murdered,” says one of them, “society’s right to be informed dies, too.”