Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose

"Gef the Dalby Spook” was probably the most famous fictional mongoose after Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Supposedly, some people actually believed he was real, but seriously, a talking mongoose with clairvoyant powers? Nevertheless, well-known paranormal researchers of the 1930s duly schlepped out to the Isle of Man hoping to catch a glimpse of the conveniently illusive weasel-like creature. The Hungarian-American Nandor Fodor was one of them. His increasingly absurd investigation unfolds in Adam Sigal’s Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, which opens today in New York.

Lately, Fodor has been a bit out of step with his fellow paranormal investigators, because he has become more of a debunker. Nevertheless, his old friend and mentor Harry Price (famous for the Borley Rectory haunting, as seen in films like The Banishing) insists Fodor needs to check out “Gef.” Frankly, Price’s account of his own investigation is less than convincing. He admits he never saw the mongoose with his own. Oh, and by the way, the daughter of Irving family, who own the farm where Gef supposedly lives, just so happens to be a ventriloquist. Despite his skepticism, Fodor agrees to make the trek, bringing his long-suffering and possibly torch-carrying assistant Anne, with him.

It seems like Sigal is striving for ambiguity on the question of Gef’s existence, but he never earns our agnosticism. Frankly, it all looks like a fortuitously timed hoax that coincides with Fodor’s middle-life crisis and possible nervous breakdown. It is hard to tell just what kind of tone Sigal was going for, because the film slips and slides all over the place.

However, if it was indeed intended as a comedy, the funniest part (maybe the only truly humorous segment) is the stinger, featuring the cast and crew unloading on Sigal’s unprofessionalism. Anyone who endured Sigal’s previous film, the messy island-of-broken-toys Chariot, might like to add choice comments of their own.

By far, the best part of the film is Christopher Lloyd, who is charmingly eccentric playing Price. Poor Simon Pegg labors like a coal-miner working a double shift as Fodor, but Sigal’s script does not supply the material to support his conversion from Scully to Mulder. Minnie Driver always brings a lot of fresh energy to any film she appears in, but the role of Anne feels conspicuously tacked-on and tangential.

Frankly, the only reason many fans will be watching Nandor Fodor is to hear Neil Gaiman, supplying the voice of Gef. He does sound appropriately eerie. I suppose if a mongoose could talk, he might sound a lot like Gaiman.

Sigal just cannot fit these pieces together and even at what should be a manageable ninety-six minutes, his pacing drags. This probably sounds like an eccentric lark, sort of in the tradition of the 1980s films Michael Palin made without Monty Python, but it is weirdly flat and inert. Not recommended, Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose opens today (9/1) in New York, at the Quad Cinema.

Luck, on Apple TV+

They say luck favors the prepared mind, but not in Sam Greenfield’s case. She learns bad luck is supposed to be random. Yet, bad luck attracts more bad luck, so once she had it, she couldn’t shake it. She gets this first-hand lesson in luck when she plays Dorothy or Alice (your preference) after falling into the land it comes from in Peggy Holmes’ Luck, produced by Skydance Animation, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

Greenfield is finally getting her own place, because she aged-out of the orphanage. The young woman just always had bad luck with her family visits. She accepts her lot, but does not want the same unlucky fate to befall Hazel, the young fellow orphan she took under her klutzy wing. After splitting a panini with a black cat, Greenfield discovers a lucky penny that seems to turn her fortunes around. She is sure it will do the same for Hazel, but true to form, she accidentally flushes it down the toilet. That rather distresses Bob the cat, who comes back looking for it.

It turns out, he was issued that penny in the Land of Luck, where Greenfield ends up too, after following him through the portal. Reluctantly, Bob agrees to help her locate another penny for Hazel to use on her next family visit, before he uses it to replace the one he lost. Of course, the grown-up sized Greenfield stands out in the land of leprechauns, rabbits, and unicorns. It should be noted Bob claims black cats are lucky in Scotland, which a quick googling seems to bear out. Unfortunately, Bob’s bossy boss, The Captain soon discovers somebody passed off a button as a lucky penny—and she would be delighted to blame him.

Luck has a good deal of charm and the colorful Land of Good Luck is quite snazzy looking. It is sort of like a fantastical Rube Goldberg-esque Metropolis. Like in Fritz Lang’s dystopia, the privileged lucky live in the skies above, while the proletarian Goblins and Roots live below in the Land of Bad Luck. There is definitely an Oz-like aspect to the story, but the hard luck blue collar monsters turn out to be more fun.

Eva Noblezada brings a lot of energy and warmth to Greenfield’s voice, but the character is so virtuous, she gets a little dull. However, Bob is entertainingly roguish character, with a smartly conceived backstory and appropriately cat-like foibles. Simon Pegg is the perfect vocal match for him, crisply landing all his snarky lines.

Truth Seekers, from Nick Frost, Simon Pegg & Amazon

A telecom/internet company that actually provides good service? This is indeed the stuff of speculative fantasy. In the case of the very fictional Smyle broadband company, it is really just Gus Roberts, who is such a crackerjack installation and repair specialist. Yet, his true calling is the investigation of the paranormal. He (and his paltry online followers) never really witnessed much until he was partnered up with rookie “Elton John.” Suddenly, the two technicians are constantly confronting ghosts during their wifi repairs in writer-creators Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Nat Saunders & James Serafinowicz’s 8-episode Truth Seekers, which premieres this Friday on Amazon Prime.

Fixing cable and boosting signals comes so effortlessly to Roberts, it leaves him plenty of time for his internet show, Truth Seekers, but so far, hardly anyone has found time to watch. His appreciative boss Dave hopes some of his magic will rub off on an unpromising recruit, Elton John (that’s a recurring joke, as you might have guessed). Lo and behold, as soon as they make a service call at the quaint cottage of Connolly’s Nook, they start hearing ghostly noises and even discover a secret room.

Once is enough for “John,” but Roberts convinces him to come back the next day. Their assignment will be the Portland Beacon, a cheesy “haunted” hotel that is completely phony—except when they arrive, the supernatural activity goes off the scale. This all still freaks out John, but he still forges a friendship and comradery with Roberts. He will also take a personal interest in their next case. That would be their stowaway, Astrid, a young woman chased by legitimately scary looking specters.

Frankly, the writing of the supernatural stuff is probably sharper than the comic material in Truth Seekers. A lot of it is surprisingly inventive, especially the way elements of the second episode, which largely feels like a one-off, become important again as the grand conspiracy comes to light in later installments. The comedy is hit-or-miss, but it is mostly rather muted, except for some awkward old guy slapstick from Roberts’ old man, played to the crotchety hilt by Malcolm McDowell (a.k.a. Mick Travis, H.G. Wells, or Caligula). A little of John’s agoraphobic fangirl sister fangirl sister Helen also goes along way.

Fortunately, the buddy chemistry between Roberts and John is always genial and unforced. Nick Frost and Samson Kayo play off each other nicely, in an upbeat manner, expressing malice for none. That is true for the show in general. In fact, the character of Roberts and Frost’s portrayal of him are quite refreshing, because they never mock him as an anti-social “lone gunman” nut-case. Instead, he is a highly productive member of society, who is keenly aware of his status in the online ecosystem, but keeps plugging away with Truth Seekers, out of a passion for the truth. He is also tragically widowed—a fact that will have later significance.

Terminal: Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg are Nighthawks

If the Krays had found themselves in Alex Proyas’s film Dark City, boy, would they have been surprised. Yet, that is basically what we can expect from this weird blend of the highly noir and somewhat surreal. The train station setting feels nostalgic, but the eccentric anti-heroes seem to exist outside of time in Vaughn Stein’s Terminal (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

When paths cross in this lonely, eternally nocturnal rail station, it is never a coincidence. However, it will take a while for the twains to meet. Annie, a flirty but rather morbid waitress at the End of the Line Café will factor prominently in both narrative strands. She will spend a long dark night of the soul with Bill, a schoolmaster facing up to his fatal illness, but rather than consolation, she offers constructive suicide tips. Yet, the old pedagogue rather appreciates her macabre sense of humor.

Alfred also quite appreciates her, but his interests are more carnal. He is the junior member of a two-man hit-team, who have just received their first commission from the city’s notoriously reclusive mob boss. Much to the surprise of Alfred’s senior partner, Vince, Annie happens to be one of his agents. In fact, she turns out to have all sorts of sidelines, including dancing at Mr. Big’s Gentleman’s club.

Terminal has the weirdest analog retro-dystopian Edward Hopper-esque vibe. It commits all kinds of sins, including a pivotal scene that looks like an homage to 1980s billowing dry ice music videos, but it is so defiant, it is hard not to be won over by it. Naturally, there are plenty of Alice in Wonderland references, but the atmosphere is something like Dark City, Streets of Fire, and Alan Moore’s Show Pieces (admittedly, that one won’t mean much to American audiences), blended together. However, there is no question the two-handed scenes shared by Annie and Bill work better than the more conventional hitman stuff with Alfred and Vince.

Regardless, Margot Robbie is deliciously sly and unhinged as Annie. She develops some particularly intriguing chemistry with Simon Pegg, who is terrific as the mordant and world-weary Bill. Alas, the big revelation of their storyline is a dashed disappointment, sabotaging their sparring with a terrible cliché. Still, it is good while it lasts. Plus, Max Irons is weirdly charismatic as Killer Alfred, while the almost impossibly abrasive cynicism of Dexter Fletcher’s Killer Vince is impressive, in its way. On the other hand, Mike Myers cannot help tipping our suspicions as the janitor who keeps turning up in each narrative.

Viewers will feel like they should have expected a lot of the film’s twists, but to Stein’s credit, he sneaks them past us, use magicians’ tricks of distraction. Christopher Ross’s appropriately moody cinematography double, triples, and then quadruples down on noir. Yet, there is never any question this is Robbie’s show. Recommended for fans of twisty rabbit-hole movies, Terminal opens this Friday (5/11) in LA, at the Laemmle Monica Film Center and also releases day-and-date on iTunes.

Kill Me Three Times: Simon Pegg, Heavily Armed

It is easier to find a good hitman than a good dentist in this small Australian beachfront town. Unfortunately, Nathan Webb is not much of a DDS, but Charlie Wolfe is a highly reliable assassin. Both are out to kill Alice Taylor, but the defiant wife is surprisingly hard to kill, as the title indicates. Still, there will be plenty of other bodies piling up in Kriv Stenders’ Kill Me Three Times (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Granted, Alice Taylor has been unfaithful to her husband Jack, but it was as much a reaction against his abusive and hyper-controlling behavior as it was an attraction to likable lunk-head Dylan Smith. True to form, when Taylor says if he can’t have her, nobody can, he really means it. Initially, he only retained the hired gun to investigate her suspected affair, but when Wolfe provides the confirmation, Taylor contracts his full services.

As if that were not bad enough, Alice Taylor’s dentist also plans to bump her off. Nathan Webb has a mountain of past-due gambling debts. Most inconveniently, his bookie’s brother happens to be Bruce Jones, the local corrupt copper, who aims to collect. The plan is to stage a fiery car crash rendering Taylor unrecognizable, allowing Webb to collect on his scheming wife Lucy’s insurance policy when he switches their dental records. Obviously, these two plans will complicate each other.

Right, so let the conspiring and double-crossing commence. Arguably, there is nothing radically new in James McFarland’s screenplay, but he keeps the mayhem coming fast and furious. It also helps that Simon Pegg sets the tone right from the start, playing Wolfe with maniacal glee. He makes contract killing look like a ton of fun, which might hold less than wonderful implications for the social compact, but it works like a charm in a genre film. Likewise, Teresa Palmer makes a seriously impressive villain in the Lady Macbeth tradition as the equally sociopathic Lucy Webb. Yet, Bryan Brown tops them all for ruthlessness as the stone cold Jones.

Right, there are not a lot of “likable” characters in KM3T, but that way nobody should get too upset when misfortune and painful death starts to befall the motley crew. Logically, given their relatively straight roles, Alice Braga’s Taylor and Luke Hemsworth’s Smith (the other, other Hemsworth) are the least interesting characters. Frankly, Pegg is the star here and Palmer will get the potential breakout attention. However, fans will be amused to see Sullivan Stapleton (best known for hardnosed work in Strike Back and Animal Kingdom, as Webb, the acquiescent loser.

Australia’s sun-drenched beaches still look quite inviting, despite all the skulduggery Stenders unleashes. He lets the driving rock soundtrack and Pegg’s evil smirk set the vigorous pace and never looks in the rearview mirror. It is quite a lot of fun if you do not object to shamelessly violent humor (and what’s not to like about it?). Recommended for fans of blackly comic one-darned-thing-after-another thrillers, Kill Me Three Times opens this Friday (4/10) in New York, at the Landmark Sunshine.