The films of journalist Maziar Bahari are contrasted with Jon Stewart’s flawed Rosewater (Universal), including And Along Came a Spider (2003), Mohammad and the Matchmaker (2004), Targets: Reporters in Iraq (2005), An Iranian Odyssey: Mossadegh, Oil and the 1953 Coup (2010), and From Cyrus to Ahmadinejad: The Not So Secret Iran-Israel War (2012).
Based on They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival, the 2011 memoir by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, Jon Stewart’s dramatization of the events that led to Bahari being arrested, interrogated, tortured, and eventually released from Iran’s Evin prison should’ve been a visceral work…
When Iranian Saeed Hanaei killed the first of 16 prostitutes, it was the inevitable extension of an egocentric, narcissistic sociopath who needed to regain a sense of power after his efforts to convinced Johns to stay away from street walkers and remain godly resulted in Hanaei getting smacked around…
Produced when Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was still in power, this BBC Persian Television documentary by Maziar Bahari reveals an unlikely relationship between Iran and Israel, which one historian describes as ‘love without marriage’ when 30 years earlier the two countries shared more than diplomatic relations…
Maziar Bahari’s documentary examines the pivotal period between 1951-1953 in which Iranian cabinet minister Mohammad Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister and proceeded to nationalize the country’s oil industry after 40 years of control by the British Ango-Persian Oil Company (later to become BP), and whose progressive goals were ultimately thwarted by coup led by the CIA at the behest of Britain’s MI6…
Now Where Were We? Right. Let’s go back to LAST NIGHT (1998)
Don McKellar’s LAST NIGHT (1998) is the first review after a long pause in activities at KQEK.com
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Assorted characters collide and interact in the lead-up to Earth’s demise at precisely midnight.
BR: Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
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