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…
Bronson the Boxer: Kid Galahad (1962) + Hard Times (1975)
Charles Bronson coaches Elvis Presley in the unlikely musical-drama-comedy Kid Galahad (1962) on Blu via Twilight Time + a comparative review of the extras between Twilight Time & Eureka’s Masters of Cinema Hard Times (1975).
Hollywood Goes Porn Serious: Hardcore (1979) + Inserts (1975)
Reviews of two 1970s indie-minded dramas on porn: Paul Schrader’s Hardcore (1976) in separate Blu-ray editions from Twilight Time & Indicator, and John Byrum’s Inserts (1975) + an Editor’s Blog on Hollywood’s inability to fuse drama + porn.
Hanna Kostanski’s 20th Century Toronto: Intersections & Interactions
Podcast interview with Hamilton-Toronto painter-photographer Hanna Kostanski, whose series 20th Century Toronto: Intersections & Interactions can be seen at The Urban Gallery.
CanCon 101: The Filmplan International Comedy Trilogy
Reviews of 3 forgotten / best forgotten? CanCon classiques produced by Filmplan International: The Funny Farm (1983) on Blu + DVD via Code Red, Gas (1983), and Dirty Tricks (1981). I may have saved 4.5 hours of your life.
Sam Fuller: Crimson Kimonos & Dead Pigeons
Two detective thrillers from very distinct periods in Sam Fuller’s career: The Crimson Kimono (1959) from Twilight Time on Blu + Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972) from Olive Films on DVD & Blu.
Hanna Kostanski’s 20th Century Toronto: Intersections & Interactions
Podcast interview with Hamilton-Toronto painter-photographer Hanna Kostanski, whose series 20th Century Toronto: Intersections & Interactions can be seen at The Urban Gallery.
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.
Kid Galahad was billed quite loudly in the campaign posters as a musical, but similar to Follow That Dream (1962), you feel undercurrents pulling him towards differing material that with any other screen performer might clash and contradict, but Elvis had such a magnetic, likeable screen persona…
Paul Schrader’s screenplay was inspired by a story in which a girl traveled to California from her staunch Dutch Calvinist community in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and got lost in the sleazy world of hardcore porn. This undoubtedly fascinated Schrader, not only because it involved someone from his home town…
According to Hollywood lore, former Sesame Street writer John Byrum used Inserts as a show-script, and perhaps due to the sales of his produced screenplays Have a Nice Weekend and Mahogany (both 1975), he snagged an opportunity to direct Inserts in Britain with a small but stellar cast…
Not to be confused in any way with the 1988 Chevy Chase film, this CanCon production predated the Tom Hanks drama Punchline (also 1988) in examining the world of standup comedy, albeit through the lenses of goofy glasses. The cast of comedians is perhaps a key reason the film managed to sneak its way to DVD via Code Red, treating it with affection…
When the second oil crisis hit North America after the Iranian Revolution and supply was taken down a notch, causing prices at the pump stations to balloon, a few filmmakers exploited the paranoia. Americathon (1979) poked fun at a broken U.S. economy, while the CanCon cult film The Last Chase (1981)…
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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