In this episode of the half-hour BBC series World Weddings, director Maziar Bahari fulfills the network’s mandate of crafting a lighthearted piece on marriage – in this case, an HIV positive former drug user searching for a wife – and illuminates more everyday aspects of a culture rarely seen in western media…
Banned by the BBC for over 20 years, The War Game (1965) is an Oscar-winning, short documentary that remains one of the most potent anti-war, anti-nuclear films ever made, but to understand why Peter Watkins’ film was rejected and suppressed, one has to flip back and do a tally of all the horrible things that had occurred within a few years prior to its making: the erection of the Berlin Wall…
Reviews of three docs on records – the extreme collector in Alan Zweig’s Vinyl (2000), the history of the 7″ record and 12″ LP in the respective BBC docs The Joy of the Single and When Albums Ruled the World.
A definite companion piece to the BBC’s When Albums Ruled the World (2013), The Joy of the Single covers similar ground in putting the love for an obsolete media format – RCA’s 7” 45 RPM platter – which in 1949 established a whole slew of conventions that still remain part of the way music is written, promoted, and enjoyed by the masses…
An obvious companion piece to the BBC’s The Joy of the Single (2012), When Albums Ruled the World gets into the rock doc genre with this taut, prescient chronology of how the lowly long-playing record managed to offer jazz and soon after rock musicians powerful opportunities to create concept albums rather than a series of short tunes the major record labels could spin-off as roughly 3 mins. singles…
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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