The Offering (2016)

The Offering: Directed by Kelvin Tong. With Daeng Amer Omar, Darius Tan, Colin Borgonon, Elizabeth Rice. When young and successful reporter Jamie finds out that her sister has died in mysterious circumstances, she travels to Singapore to uncover the truth. There, she discovers multiple deaths linked to her sister’s and must join forces with her sister’s husband in order to defeat a demonic entity that is using new technology to complete an ancient mission.

“Well, was you? Thatu0026#39;s Eddieu0026#39;s (Walter Brennan) inexorable question all throughout u0026quot;To Have and Have Notu0026quot; to anyone within earshot. And itu0026#39;s only the 3rd or 4th best line in the movie. Seems thereu0026#39;s this one line where one person tries to teach another person how to whistle. And another one after a passionate kiss when a gal tells a guy that itu0026#39;s even better when he helps. Duh! But I like what happens after yet another passionate smooch between Bogie and Bacall. She pulls away and says to him, u0026quot;You need a shave,u0026quot; after which she immediately love-slaps his unshaven face. Itu0026#39;s her way of telling him without words that sheu0026#39;s attracted to him and she really doesnu0026#39;t give a good hoot whether he shaves or not.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy now, just about everyone knows that this movie is all about u0026quot;Steveu0026quot; (Humphrey Bogart) and u0026quot;Slimu0026quot; (Lauren Bacall). In their first movie together, the two exhibit an explosive chemistry rarely seen from any other actor-actress combo. As one watches the movie, with the great Howard Hawks putting the two thru their various paces, one simultaneously imagines the two of them falling in love offscreen — which they did! — just as they do in this movie. For more on this, I highly recommend Laurenu0026#39;s autobiography — u0026quot;By Myself.u0026quot; In that book, she talks about the two of them sneaking around to see each other like a couple of teenagers — which she was! As I recall, Bogie was still married at the time — though estranged from Mayo Methot.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs for u0026quot;T H a H N,u0026quot; there are many other fine elements that make it well worth oneu0026#39;s time. A pretty good storyline revolving around the Free French contesting the Vichy French (Nazi collaborators) in Martinique during the early days of World War II. A strong supporting cast much reminiscent of the one in u0026quot;Casablanca.u0026quot; Great dialogue by novelist William Faulkner and Jules Furthman. Also, a strong musical score (u0026quot;Am I Blue?u0026quot; — u0026quot;How Little We Knowu0026quot; — u0026quot;Hong Kong Bluesu0026quot;) by Hoagy Carmichael with a strong assist from Johnny Mercer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn a very good Humphrey Bogart movie, which this certainly is, one would never suspect that a young ingenue actress, with little training or experience, could scene-steal from a polished veteran like Bogie. And I wonu0026#39;t say that she does such in this movie. I do know that she did not want to and was not trying to (her autobiography). The fact is, however, that it took a star actor of Bogieu0026#39;s magnitude to keep Betty from dominating the screen with her earthy sex appeal and pure luminescence. Her sashay out of the bar in the last scene here is enough to make any man weak in the knees. No wonder Bogie tumbled! Both onscreen and off!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo ….. tell me, now ….. WAS you ever bit by a dead bee?”