Comes a Horseman may be regarded as a revisionist western – its setting near the end of WWII offers an interesting series of culture clashes between returning war veterans, locals, traditionalist cow herders, and the emerging postwar economy that would boom with oil and mineral mining in formally pristine environments…
Billed as Woody Allen’s first formal drama, Interiors is sandwiched between his much-lauded and awarded classics Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979), and although this creative gamble was nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Director and Best Writing, Interiors has aged into an overly mannered snapshot of a wounded matriarch and her bickering family…
Woody Allen’s examination of fame, adulation, and the worth of a comedian’s career is filtered through a Felliniesque lens that’s still a bit of a challenge 35+ years since its release, perhaps because, to paraphrase fan salvos aimed at central character Sandy Bates, ‘it’s not as funny as his older films…
Tales From Below: Hell and High Water (1954) + Above Us the Waves (1955) + The Frogmen (1951)
This week, tales from below the ocean surface: Sam Fuller’s nutty Hell and High Water (1954) on Blu from Twilight Time, Ralph Thomas’ very intense Above Us the Waves (1955) from VCI, and The Frogmen (1951) from the KQEK.com archives.
Blaxploitation Horror: Blackenstein (1973) + Abby (1974)
Reviews of two blaxploitation classics: the newly mastered Blackenstein (1973) from Severin on Blu + William Girdler’s Exorcist knock-off Abby (1974), still missing on disc.
Dreaming of Electrified Wires: Robert Fantinatto & Jason Amm’s epic documentary on modular synths
Review of Robert Fantinatto and Jason Amm’s epic documentary on modular synths, I Dream of Wires (2014), on Blu in the 4 hour Hardcore Edition.
Ken Takakura and Brutal Tales of The Yakuza
Reviews of two new Blu-rays starring Japan’s inimitable Ken Takakura: Brutal Tales of Chivalry / Shôwa zankyô-den (1965) from Twilight Time + The Yakuza (1974) from Warner Archives.
Inferno (1953) on Blu + BSV 1172 Premieres at Eye Myth Cine-Gallery Film Festival
Three things in one jam-packed update: review of Twilight Time’s 3D Blu of the desert noir classic Inferno (1953), thoughts on 3D, and my short experimental doc BSV 1172 Premieres this Fri. June 23 at Eye Myth Cine-Gallery. Read on for more details!
Podcast with Maurizio Guarini on scoring Dante’s Inferno / L’Inferno (1911)
Review of Italy’s first feature film, the surreal silent classic Dante’s Inferno / L’Inferno (1911) + a podcast interview with the film’s composer, Goblin’s Maurizio Guarini, plus related podcast links.
Podcast Interview with Do Not Resist Director Craig Atkinson
Review of the unsettling doc Do Not Resist + Podcast Interview with Director Craig Atkinson on the militarization of local U.S. police forces.
Podcast Interview with Age of Consequences Director Jared Scott
Review of the provocative climate change doc The Age of Consequences + Podcast Interview with Director Jared Scott.
Podcast on BSV 1172’s World Premiere + Tom Roston & Norman Wilner at Bay Street Video, Pt.1
New podcast featuring thoughts on the World Premiere at SDUFF of my experimental doc BSV 1172 + Part One of a conversation with I Lost It at the Video Store author Tom Roston & NOW magazine’s Norman Wilner, who discussed video store culture in-store at Bay Street Video back in May.
An Interview with Director and Editor Victor Kanefsky
Podcast interview director and veteran editor Victor Kanesfky on the art of editing, spanning Art Bastard (2016), his recent documentary on artist Robert Cenedella, and editing the classic indie horror Ganja & Hess (1976) + graffiti doc Style Wars (1983).
Postwar Espionage: The Quiet American (1958) + Foreign Intrigue (1955)
Postwar espionage is featured in two unique productions: Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s The Quiet American (1958) from Twilight Time Blu + Sheldon Reynolds’ unusual Foreign Intrigue (1955) from KL Studio Classics.
BR: Quiet American, The (1958)
Although Graham Greene was less than pleased with the first film version of his 1955 novel, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1958 effort remains a haunting rendition, mostly due to the excellent performances by two leads and actual filming in the relatively new republic of South Vietnam…
A genuine curio for mystery and Robert Mitchum fans, Foreign Intrigue actually has its roots in a successful syndicated mystery TV series created by Sheldon Reynolds, who handled writing, directing, and producing chores…
BR: Fate of the Furious (2017)
Besides Tokyo Drift, Fate of the Furious is the first entry in Universal’s ludicrously successful franchise to not feature the character of Brian (the late Paul Walker), who in the prior film quite literally drove off into a sunny paradise where the long and winding road gave fans closure…
DVD: Above Us the Waves (1955)
Based on the 1953 best-selling book by Charles E.T. Warren and Thornton Warren, this dramatization of Britain’s midget submarine program to sink Nazi Germany’s Tirpitz battleship proved very successful at the box office, and was reportedly a pet project of producer William MacQuitty…
Written during his busiest period (1968-1970), Quincy Jones’ score for John and Mary was quite sparse, leaving obligatory space for the film’s myriad dialogue exchanges and source music, but the score is memorable for being atypical of the material Jones was writing at the time: action comedies (The Italian Job, The Hell with Heroes), comedies (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,Cactus Flower), and the funky style of They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!
For some soundtrack fans, it was a bit of surprise to learn the composer of pioneering synth scores had begun his career with large orchestral scores for John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal (1982)…
LP: Bourne Identity, The (2002)
The first film in the enduring franchise gave John Powell the perfect opportunity to write what remains both his definitive action sound, and the definitive action score of that decade, blending large orchestral sounds with layers upon layers of electronics…
CD: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
In a radical move for director Tim Burton, the score for his latest film was written by the collaborative team of Mike Higham and Matthew Margeson, both skilled in composing, orchestrating, and arranging for a diversity of projects…
MP3: 1979 Revolution – Black Friday (2016)
No stranger to scoring video games, Nima Fakhrara’s music is as unusual as the interactive game’s design in which players can take several differing paths as they’re immersed in the world of the 1979 Islamic Revolution with turned Iran into a theocracy…
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