Joe Kraemer’s real auspicious debut came in the form of the oddball The Way of the Gun (2000), the directorial debut of The Usual Suspects (1995) writer Christopher McQuarrie. McQuarrie went back to screenwriting for a lengthy period and re-emerged as director of Jack Reacher (2012), this time opting for a decisive 70s suspense thriller where violence remained just under the hood instead of being overt and visually chaotic…
Lalo Schifrin is showcased in this amalgam of reviews featuring Twilight Time’s new Blu-ray of Che! (1969), the soundtrack CD (Aleph Records) + the composer in an episode of Jazz Casual (Rhino) and the 2001 concert doc Movie Music Man: A Portrait of Lalo Schifrin (Image / Kultur).
Produced two years after the death of Argentine-born rebel Che Guevara, Richard Fleischer’s film is infamous for being a grand piece of cinematic kitsch, starring Omar Sharif as the eponymous anti-hero whose face became a brand on T-shirts, sheets, posters, and buttons for decades, and Jack Palance as a cigar-chomping Fidel Castro who led his band of rag-tag rebels into Havana after 2 years of guerilla warfare in the rural areas of Cuba…
Even though Fox’s Che! was a cash-in biopic – the film was released roughly two years after Che Guevara’s death – Lalo Schifrin approached the project as a golden opportunity to apply his musicological interests to the rhythms of Latin America…
This TV production from France’s Channel 4 manages to integrate selections from a live concert in Canne with the Orchestre National de Lyon in which Lalo Schifrin performs material from his own repertoire and select classical pieces, and is caught in a series of brief interviews reflecting on his career, some of his best-known themes, and how the latter reflect his approach to scoring movies and TV…
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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