MMM is a screwball comedy reformulated into a pitch black misadventure where dangerous entanglements recur with greater intensity, and the nonsense begins when against Larry’s wishes Carol agrees to accept an invitation of coffee & cake by senior neighbours Paul and Lillian House…
Alice is clearer example of Woody Allen revisiting his familiar template of an unhappily married woman going through a series of personal adventures before she decides it’s time to change her life and begin a second and more enlightened phase that may not even require a husband or boyfriend…
The joy (and perils) of infidelity are centre-frame in Paul Mazursky’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) + Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives (1992), on Blu via Twilight Time.
Woody Allen’s last film starring Mia Farrow is one of his best and darkest comedies, hyper-fixating on the (largely) negative effects of infidelity – the film earned Oscar nominations for writing and supporting actress (Judy Davis) – but its most powerful moments…
Reviews of two Woody Allen satirical classics – Bananas (1971) + Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) – on Blu via Twilight Time.
Woody Allen’s reteaming with Take the Money and Run (1969) co-writer Mickey Rose struck pure gold in this poke at contemporary politics in which a moron becomes the leader of a South American country after it undergoes a Cuba-like revolution…
One of the toughest challenges for any film built around a series of thematically connected sketches is consistency of quality, and offering enough variation so that no segment is redundant nor feels disconnected from the original concept. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex…
Reviews of Woody Allen’s formal feature directorial debut Take the Money and Run (1969) from KL Studio Classics, the short mockumentary Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971), and the underrated drama September (1987) from Twilight Time.
Running a compact 25 mins. Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story is a satire of the Nixon Administration, which was past the halfway point of its first term mandate when the short was scheduled for airing in February of 1972, but as the lore surrounding this ‘lost’ film goes…
Released the same year as Radio Days, Woody Allen’s September retains the cast members Mia Farrow and Dianne Wiest, but the tone harkens back to the auteur’s Interiors (1978), a more dour and overwrought attempt at Serious Drama…
The Jack the Ripper flick that almost got away…
Review of Severin’s packed Blu-ray of JACK THE RIPPER, the shockingly good 1959 version, rescued from oblivion.
ArtScopeTO 08: Interview with Photographer Lori Ryerson
The latest ArtScopeTO podcast features a chat with photographer Lori Ryerson, whose series OFF THE BEATEN PATH can be seen at Toronto’s Urban Gallery until Sat. April 27, 2019.
Podcast Interview with Saint Judy Composer James T. Sale
In a new podcast, composer James T. Sale discusses his music for Sean Hanish’s prescient bio-drama, SAINT JUDY (2018).
Thoughts on sex & architecture & a review of Wim Verstappen & Pim de la Parra’s BLUE MOVIE (1971), new on Blu from Cult Epics.
Death in Splendid Isolation: Lighthouse Mysteries
The lure of the lighthouse proved fatal for some in THE VANISHING (2018) on Blu from Lionsgate + THE PHANTOM LIGHT (1935) on DVD from MPI.
ArtScopeTO 08: Interview with Photographer Lori Ryerson
The latest ArtScopeTO podcast features a chat with photographer Lori Ryerson, whose series OFF THE BEATEN PATH can be seen at Toronto’s Urban Gallery until Sat. April 27, 2019.
Podcast Interview with Saint Judy Composer James T. Sale
In a new podcast, composer James T. Sale discusses his music for Sean Hanish’s prescient bio-drama, SAINT JUDY (2018).
Viva Amiga’s Zach Weddington (and a bit of gear talk)
Podcast interview with Zach Weddington on Viva Amiga, his affectionate documentary on the pioneering multimedia computer (plus a bit of gear talk).
Jack the Ripper was arguably the first ‘star’ serial killer, and the public’s interest in gory details proves how little human nature has changed in the past 31 years…
BR: Blue Movie / Session in Amsterdam (1971)
The frankness within Blue Movie is quite astonishing – full frontal male & female naughty bits, with active handling & touching on camera, as filmed by a young Jan de Bont…
DVD: Phantom Light, The (1935)
In 1935, Michael Powell directed 7 films, and The Phantom Light (1935) is among the few of his early quota work to make it to DVD. For North Americans familiar with his more daring artistic experiments with Emeric Pressburger (such as The Red Shoes, or Black Narcissus)…
BR: Vanishing, The / Keepers (2018)
Based on the still-unsolved Flannan Isle Mystery in which three lighthouse keepers vanished from an isolated isle without a trace in 1900, Joe Bone and Celyn Jones’ script unravels like a classic thriller in which isolation + greed drives men mad…
Whether Pearl S. Buck’s first screenplay required heavy work by Claude Binyon isn’t known, but the author of The Good Earth (published in 1931, and made into a film in 1937 by MGM) reportedly wrote China Story around 1950…
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…
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