a record of consumption, part nine (being a new film journal) the horror continues

9.5.2022
Rob Reiner Misery 1990
(rewatch)
4K Essential rewatch via Kino Lorber. This film reminds me of all the nut jobs that got so upset with the last season of GOT. I remember saying to a group of them I thought the last season was pretty good and had to run to escape being tarred and feather, was quite shocking..

Down the Road: The Making of Drive My Car 2022
Criterion Collection.

Bryan Forbes Seance on a Wet Afternoon 1964

Shocking Shocking business. Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley in this visually arresting film shot by Gerry Turpin (camera operator on Peeping Tom) with memorable score by John Barry. Hard to not think of Attenborough as the serial killer from the crazy 10 Rillington Place film, he gives such an eerie performance here, as does Kim Stanley whom makes you want to wash the grime off when the film ends. Great stuff.

9.6.2022
Robert Eggers The Northman 2022
(rewatch)
Better the second time. Good looking film.

9.7.2022
Wayne Wang Chan Is Missing 1982
(rewatch)

Second time in the last 6 months watching this. Beautiful mix of hommage, comedy, grit, novelistic story telling, and low key ambiance. Just comes close enough to having a non-plot to be totally intellectual engaging and exciting in a way few films are. Abstractions with light and off beat moments give it an experimental quality that fits well with the story and the San Francisco charm. Great film.

9.8.2022
Martin Scorsese Raging Bull 1980
(rewatch)
4K Criterion Collection disc. 50th time rewatch? Endlessly have watched this film over the last 30 years. Grain jumping off the screen like water spraying from a waterfall, more beautiful than the Mona Lisa. If one wants to have the most visceral experience from a film, just tune into the editing by Thelma Schoonmaker, probably the best editing in any film that I can think of.

9.9.2022
Richard Benjamin Mermaids 1990
Bob Hoskins!

9.10.2022
Alex Garland Men 2022
Great performance by Rory Kinnear as numerous f*cked up characters in this bizarre film.

9.11.2022
Jim Sheridan In the Name of the Father 1993
(rewatch)

From the Imprint Films Jim Sheridan boxset. Some really awe inspiring film-making here, like when we see John Lynch and Daniel Day-Lewis hammered dancing in a bar to Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone with an hard cut to driving into London with "I arrived in London on the 26th of June" Daniel Day-Lewis voice over. Beautiful film.

Jim Sheridan The Boxer 1997
(rewatch)
From the Imprint Films Jim Sheridan boxset. Classic with Daniel Day-Lewis and Emily Watson.

Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes Menace II Society 1993
(rewatch)

Second time watching the Criterion Collection 4K disc. Beautiful nihilistic film. Larenz Tate's performance here as nihilist O-Dog in contrast with his Darius Lovehall in Theodore Witcher's Love Jones so striking.

9.17.2022
Woody Allen Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008

9.18.2022
Al Reinert For All Mankind 1989
(rewatch)
Via Criterion Collection, essential 4K rewatch. Brian and Roger Eno, and Daniel Lanois soundtrack.

Woody Allen Manhattan Murder Mystery 1993
(rewatch)

9.20.2022
George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead 1978
(rewatch)

Theatrical cut from the 4K Second Sight boxset. Had some friends in town who felt like having cocktails and watching horror films so our October of Horror films starts early. Nothing much better than this 1978 classic Dystopian film by Romero. Destruction of Mall Life = Dystopian.

David Cronenberg Shivers 1975
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Arrow Blu ray. Favorite Cronenberg film, with Scanners second. Beautifully unsettling end of the world film, at times subtle, and at times not. Great humor, erotic horrors and many challenges to morals.

9.21.2022
Ari Aster Hereditary 2018
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Maybe 5th time watching Aster's classic. Great film.

9.23.2022
Ari Aster Midsommar 2019
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Second time watching the 4k extended cut version via A24. Much prefer this one with its complete virtuosic film-making. Don't care for the actors as much as Hereditary, but such a beautifully shot and constructed film, aurally and visually.

9.24.2022
Sam Raimi The Evil Dead 1981
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. 4K version, after several rewatches, I don't enjoy this as much as the second version, but the film has some great moments, and the rawness is quite intoxicating. The shots of the woods are some of the best moments in horror ever.

John Carpenter The Fog 1980
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Classic Inverness California horror film. Love the relationship between Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Atkins, similar to Curtis and Stacy Keach in Roadgames from 1981.

9.25.2022
Paul Schrader Hardcore 1979
(rewatch)
Favorite Schrader film, along with Light Sleeper. Last section in San Francisco blows your mind.

John Sayles Lone Star 1996
(rewatch)
Essential.

9.26.2022
Carl Franklin One False Move 1992
(rewatch)
Carl Franklin Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, episode one 2022
The Horror continues. Spending time with the master Carl Franklin.

9.27.2022
Wes Craven A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
(rewatch)
The Horror continues.

9.28.2022
Andrew Dominik Blonde 2022

Huge fan of Dominik's films (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly, Mindhunter) but was a bit concerned if this would be a waste of time given I hate biopics and didn't see the point in another Marilyn Monroe film. Was not familiar with the Joyce Carol Oates 2000 biographical fiction novel and walked into this film with no reference, and decided not to read the negative reviews of the film, because really what is the point of that if you haven't seen it? Loved the film, loved the cinematography by Chayse Irvin which is so dark and high contrast at times he makes Weegee seem like a disney photographer. Love the lush soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, maybe one of their best, and loved the performances by all. This film is another reminder for myself not to take film critics seriously, or to not read them at all, and form my own opinion on a film instead of letting their own ideas replace ones I have.

9.30.2022
John Patton Ford Emily the Criminal 2022

10.1.2022
Paul Schrader Cat People 1982
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Serious John Heard performance.

Jack Sholder The Hidden 1987
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. In the late 1980s I would watch this often on (I assume) HBO, along with They Live and some other classics, this film left a big impression. Had not seen since then.

10.2.2022
Amy Holden Jones The Slumber Party Massacre 1982

The Horror continues. From the director of the great film Love Letters (Jamie Lee Curtis and James Keach) and writer of Mystic Pizza, comes a film about a serial killer brutalizing young girls, and finally turning their party into a bloodbath.

Tobe Hooper The Funhouse 1981

Great carny film from the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist, and Lifeforce. Horrible killer in this film, would keep the devil up at nights. Great atmosphere, and some wonderful aerial shots of the carnival.

Gary Sherman Dead & Buried 1981
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Mobs of deranged blood thirsty townspeople wreak havoc in Mendocino California.

10.3.2022
Robert Bierman Vampire’s Kiss 1988
The Horror continues.

10.4.2022
Ken Russell The Lair of the White Worm 1988
The Horror continues. Horror film with Hugh Grant. Strange one, not without interest. Ken Russell apparently indulged in some dipsomania during the filming.

10.7.2022
Mike Newell Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994
(rewatch)
Another but totally different Hugh Grant classic.

10.8.2022
Siân Heder CODA 2021
(rewatch)
Solid film.

10.9.2022
John Boorman, Rospo Pallenberg Exorcist II: The Heretic 1977
The Horror continues.

Ti West X 2022
The Horror continues.

10.10.2022
Tobe Hooper The Funhouse 1981
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Second time this week. Amazing the first time, better the second time.

10.11.2022
John Scheinfeld Chasing Trane 2016
John Coltrane doc.

John Carpenter The Thing 1982
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. 4K version of the masterpiece. Favorite horror film. Love this photo of the crew in Alaska.

10.12.2022
Michael Laughlin Strange Behavior 1981
The Horror continues.

10.13.2022
Tobe Hooper The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 1986

The Horror continues. Bizarre follow-up to the hard to watch classic, strange and funny with essential performance from Dennis Hopper.

10.14.2022

Daniel Roher Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band 2019
A rare thing; a good music documentary.

David Robert Mitchell It Follows 2014
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Second time around, not doing much for me and the family.

Tony Williams Next of Kin 1982
The Horror continues.

10.15.2022
Nicolas Roeg Don’t Look Now 1973
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Every October, one must spend time with the master and his great work.

10.16.2022
Robert Harmon The Hitcher 1986
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. One of those films I remember seeing on cable as a kid, but no memory of the film. Actually not bad, starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Unrelenting.

10.21.2022
Christian Tafdrup Speak No Evil 2022
The Horror continues. Danish horror film with a With a Friend Like Harry vibe. Pretty heavy throughout, not sure about the ending but overall a solid film with a fantastic atmosphere.

Alice Lowe Prevenge 2016
The Horror continues.

10.22.2022
Michael O’Shea The Transfiguration 2016

The Horror continues. Young man in South Brooklyn talks about how realistic vampires are in all the horror classics to his new girlfriend. Kills people, drinks their blood, and pukes up a little when he is not doing that. Good film.

Don Coscarelli Phantasm 1979
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Second time watching, the avant'garde qualities really become apparent in this film, an unusual one with a really strange quality to it from the editing and general construction.

10.23.2022

Curtis Harrington The Fall of the House of Usher 1942, Fragment of Seeking 1946, Picnic 1949, On the Edge 1949, The Assignation 1953, The Wormwood Star 1956, The Four Elements 1966, Usher 2000
The Horror continues. Very engaging Curtis Harrington shorts form the Indicator blu ray. Many take the Maya Deren style and give a horror edge.

Rubén Galindo Jr. Grave Robbers 1989
(rewatch)
The Horror continues.

Dennis Donnelly The Toolbox Murders 1978
The Horror continues. Serial killer wreaking havoc in an apartment complex.

Eskil Vogt The Innocents 2021
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Four kids in an housing estate with telepathic powers.

10.24.2022
Ian Brennan, Ryan Murphy The Watcher 2022
The Horror continues. Uninspiring coastal grandmother aesthetic: bland beige and off-white.

10.25.2022
Paul Lynch Prom Night 1980
The Horror continues. Early Jamie Lee Curtis film.

10.26.2022
Anna Biller The Love Witch 2016
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. De Palmaesque Post-Hitchcock film with witchcraft, nudity and sex.

10.27.2022
Mark Rosman The House on Sorority Row 1982
(rewatch)
The Horror continues. Better than one would think.

10.29.2022
Abel Ferrara The Addiction 1995
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Initially saw this in the theater, made a big impression. The high contrast black and white with pitch black blood made so beautiful by cinematographer Ken Kelsch. Great film, and the party sequence at the end is just pure cinematic bliss, heightened by the Joe Delia score. Great film.

10.30.2022
José Ramón Larraz Vampyres 1974

The Horror continues. From the director of Symptoms from the same year, this beautifully shot film (the dp was Harry Waxman who also shot The Wicker Man) where blood on a car window looks like it should be in a museum. Two female seductress vampires who lure men to their mansion to seduce and drink from them, has similarities with Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day from 2001 with the mixture of eroticism and cannibalism.

William Friedkin The Exorcist 1973
(rewatch)

The Horror continues. Essential. Shot by Owen Roizman, editing by Norman Gay and Evan A. Lottman. The mother coming out of the subway section with subliminal frames inserted like the one above have quite an effect, even after 20-30 viewings.

• The Power of Christ compels you
• You're Going To Die Up There
• Could you help an old alter boy father
• Your mother sucks codpieces in Hell, Karras, you faithless slime
• Until she rots, and lies stinking in the Earth
• You keep it away... ahh! It burns! It burns!
• Especially important, is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant, but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies, with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that... do not listen.
• Come into me! Goddamn you take me! Take me!

10.31.2022
Mike White White Lotus season 1 ep 1 2022

Andrew Semans Resurrection 2022

a record of consumption, part eight (being a new film journal)

7.22.2022
Dennis Hopper Out of the Blue 1980
(rewatch)
4K rewatch via Severin Films. Seriously tough to watch film, but worth the pain it inflicts.

7.25.2022
Roman Polanski Tess 1979
(rewatch)
From Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, with a screenplay by Polanski, Gérard Brach (Frantic, The Bear, The Tenant, Repulsion, Cul-de-sac, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Identification of a Woman), and the British translator John Brownjohn. Moving score by Philippe Sarde, with a subdued palette by the two heavies Ghislain Cloquet and Geoffrey Unsworth. The film is dedicated to Polanski's late wife Sharon Tate, whom was convinced he would make a film of Tess one day. In Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we see Margot Robbie (Sharon Tate) buying her husband a copy of Tess from an antiquarian bookseller in Westwood (image above).

7.26.2022
Peter Crane Moments 1974
Last film from The Pemini Organization. Only 42 people have marked this film as watched on letterboxd.

7.27.2022
Donald Glover & Hiro Murai Atlanta season three 2022
Favorite show on television right now.

Nicolas Winding Refn Pusher 3 2005
Volume three follows Milo (Zlatko Burić). Less effective of the Pusher Trilogy, but great music by Peter Peter and Peter Kyed, worth watching the movie for.

David Cronenberg Eastern Promises 2007
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch, via Kino Lorber. For my 9-5 we were studying tattoo/body art history and trends, which got me thinking about the books of Russian Criminal Tattoos by Fuel Design, and then of course to Cronenberg's great Eastern Promises. Where body art takes an extremely offensive and irritating art world nonsense trajectory in Crimes of the Future, with charlatan artists as superstars (which has plagued contemporary art), and art enthusiasts as brainless consumers, we see it pure and in the street here in Eastern Promises.

7.28.2022
Billy Wilder The Apartment 1960
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch, via Kino Lorber. Kino is insane these days with their releases.

7.30.2022
Mark Robson The Harder They Fall 1956
(rewatch)
From Indicator's Columbia Noir #5: Humphrey Bogart boxset. Only film I have seen more than once. Good scenes in this film, the best is the You Yellow Dog bit. This actress is really wonderful.

Carl Franklin Devil in a Blue Dress 1995
(rewatch)
Criterion Collection 4K. Fourth time I have seen this film in the last 2 years. Perfect film, best Denzel film. Just unreal how good it is. This and One False Move are some of the best examples of Neo-Noir films that are get better with each viewing and are like a drug you can't stop pushing or a cocktail you can't put down.

8.3.2022
Michael Mann Collateral 2004
(rewatch)
4K.

8.6.2022
David Cronenberg Crimes of the Future 2022
See review above in Eastern Promises.

8.7.2022
Martin Ritt Hud 1963
(rewatch)
Esssssssssential Paul Newman.

8.9.2022
Skye Borgman Girl in the Picture 2022
Netflix true crime doc.

John McNaughton Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 1986
(rewatch)
Arrow Films 4K. Essential 4K rewatch, even more disturbing coming at you in such high fidelity.

8.10.2022
Stuart Heisler Tokyo Joe 1949
Mediocre Bogart film.

8.13.2022
Philip Haas The Music of Chance 1993
Blu ray from Imprint Films out of Australia. Lesser known 90s film, based on the novel by Paul Auster (whom has a cameo in the film). Perfect film, a nod of the hat to Sisyphus with Mandy Patinkin and James Spader as two characters whom enter into a purely novelist world where they are pushed into building a stone wall which resembles a lovely piece of Land Art, due to owing money to Joel Grey and Charles Durning, with M. Emmet Walsh as their overseer/caretaker. Samantha Mathis and Chris Penn show up as bit roles. Wonderful cyclical story, seen through the eyes of our heroes and artificially through the use of a model of the world. Both real and artificial, a film and just simply a story, what we are seeing with our own eyes, and how narrative manipulates reality (and manipulates narrative), and consumes its tail creating circles of confusion.

8.14.2022
Dario Argento The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 1970
Arrow films 4K. Mostly watch these films for the soundtracks. This one with Ennio Morricone getting into a late 60s Miles Davis zone.

Dario Argento Tenebre 1982
Arrow films 4k, music by Goblin.

Jaume Collet-Serra Non-Stop 2014
(rewatch)
Non-Stop, The Grey, and Taken are the 3 most rewatchable Liam Neeson action films. Pure pleasure.

8.15.2022
Bernard Rose Candyman 1992
(rewatch)
4K Essential Cinema. Starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, and Vanessa E. Williams. Novel by Clive Barker (The Forbidden"). Beautifully shot by Anthony B. Richmond. Really love Xander Berkeley in this film, an often seen face in 90s cinema, like in Todd Haynes Safe as the husband. He usually plays a somewhat loser character, or in Terminator 2 as the step father... very talented actor. As is Tony Todd who plays Candyman here, and Madsen's wonderful performance as the student of chaos.

8.17.2022
Mike Hodges Get Carter 1971
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch, BFI disc. Brutalist architecture, cars speeding and blurring, Caine at high level intense low level comedy, one of his most subtle performances. Industry destroying the sea, and getting rusted out and destroyed in the process. Beautiful film, not much better.

8.21.2022
Jonathan Demme Married to the Mob 1988
Off beat film from the master (Caged Heat 1974, Melvin and Howard 1980, Something Wild 1986, The Silence of the Lambs 1991, Philadelphia 1993 to name a few).

Sam Peckinpah The Killer Elite 1975
(rewatch)

8.23.2022
Dave Franco The Rental 2020

8.24.2022
Tamara Jenkins Private Life 2018
(rewatch)

8.26.2022
John Carney Once 2007
(rewatch)

8.27.2022
Roger Donaldson White Sands 1992
(rewatch)
Strong memory of this film a few times being seen in high school. Great performances by Willem Defoe, Mickey Rourke, and M. Emmet Walsh.

8.28.2022
Dan Trachtenberg 10 Cloverfield Lane 2016
(rewatch)
4K. Would be great to see part 2 where the end of this film leaves us.

8.29.2022
Diao Yi’nan The Wild Goose Lake 2019
Sublime and visionary film from the director of Black Coal, Thin Ice. Hard to put into words after one viewing, this film is insanely profound!

9.1.2022
Richard Tuggle Out of Bounds 1986
Great 80s sleazebag Los Angeles wrong man / drug thriller film starring Anthony Michael Hall and Jenny Wright. Anthony Michael Hall gives a solid performance as a chill kid from Iowa whom moves to Los Angeles, has a crush on a hip girl, and then has to start running from the law and from the drug underworld. Normally not into him, but he gives a tough performance here as a strong kid, fish out of water, and too mellow to be irritating. Great cast includes actors you know their faces but not their names like Raymond J. Barry, Pepe Serna, Glynn Turman, and Jerry Levine. Good stuff.

9.2.2022
Ethan Hawke The Last Movie Stars 2022
Documentary on Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. Good attempt at showing the range and virtuosity of these two actors. Any road to cinephilia usually starts with Hud, The Hustler, The Fugitive Kind, The Verdict, Cool Hand Luke, and The Long Hot Summer. I remember around 2000 picking up the Library of America 2 volumes of the writings of Tennessee Williams, after seeing quite a few of the films, there was a very strong desire to read the actual pages and have a deeper understanding. Again and again these Williams inspired films were studied by this young enthusiast and the 2 actors above became essential. I am sure that Ethan Hawke and many of the actors in this doc had a similar history with these great films, and at times it was quite lovely to see the enthusiasm like with Vincent D'Onofrio explaining the difference between a bland reading and a reading under the method of method acting. The zoom infiltration of the film was frankly a bummer, as was the confusion that happened when an actor was on zoom in a conversation, and then transitioned to doing a voice over. Also having actors claim they are not familiar with the works but still participating, one wonders why not pick someone else or have no-one at all besides the 2 heavies we are here to see? Do we always need a contemporary voice in documentaries about true visionaries?

Joshua Logan Picnic 1955
Based on the play by William Inge. Stars William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Susan Strasberg, Kim Novak, Arthur O'Connell, and Betty Field. Good for architecture enthusiasts into American industrial architecture, specifically grain silos which are beautifully explored in this film.

9.3.2022
Ryusuke Hamaguchi Drive My Car 2021
(rewatch)
Second time with this film, first in the theater and now the Criterion Collection blu ray. Between viewings I purchased and read the Haruki Murakami short story Drive My Car to get a better idea of the narrative. The sophistication in story telling in this film is hard for an old amateur like myself to completely understand, the levels of subtle storytelling that go through the film and reappear takes an extreme amount of mental abilities, something I maybe don't fully have, but luckily my wife hits the pause button every so often and not only illuminates but explains these subtleties. I say illuminates because half of the narrative streams I probably would not have noticed if not pointed out. Such a beautiful film visually and aurally it can be hard at times to actually take in all the concepts coming at you. The idea of story within story is certainly an essential part of the history of the novel from Georges Perec to Don Quixote, Hamaguchi adds to this lovely history with his films, but very much in his own style, where the perception of the layered story is not in the foreground, but can be more like a dream or fragmented or words during sexual encounters happening and not happening. Truly profound stuff which will probably need another few viewings to truly reveal itself.

Matthew Weiner Mad Men Season two through seven 2008-2015
(rewatch)
Good stuff. Show goes from being pretty good to amazing at it progresses.

a record of consumption, part six (being a new film journal)

4.2.2022
Kwon Oh-seung Midnight 2021
Korean serial killer film.

Woody Allen Hannah and Her Sisters 1986
(rewatch)
"I'm going through a period where I can't be around people" (Max von Sydow).

4.3.2022
King Hu Come Drink with Me 1966

Martin Scorsese The Last Waltz 1978
(rewatch)
Essential 4k rewatch, via Criterion. First time I heard The Band, was watching this film, and remember watching the 116 minute film 3 times in 2 days.

Tim Hunter River’s Edge 1986
(rewatch)
Very Lynchian in atmosphere. Shot by Frederick Elmes, whom worked with David Lynch, Ang Lee, Charlie Kaufman, Jim Jarmusch, and Todd Solondz. For the role of drug and mannequin man Feck, Tim Hunter had wanted John Lithgow, but the part was also offered to Harry Dean Stanton whom declined it, but luckily passed the script on to his friend, Dennis Hopper.

4.4.2022
Martin Scorsese The Last Waltz 1978
(rewatch)
Scorsese & Robbie Robertson commentary.

Eliza Hittman Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight 2011

Kasi Lemmons Eve’s Bayou 1997
Lemmons directorial debut, Southern Gothic film about a prosperous Creole-American community in Louisiana. Lemmons is known as Ardelia Mapp in Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs and Bernadette Walsh in Bernard Rose's Candyman. Great film.

Clio Barnard Dark River 2017

4.5.2022
Thomas Vinterberg Another Round 2020
(rewatch)
Stunningly beautiful film, up there with Vinterberg's The Celebration and The Hunt. Love the Yves Klein ending.

Johan Renck Chernobyl 2019
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.
 
4.6.2022
Alexander Payne Sideways 2004
(rewatch)
Once a year rewatch.

4.9.2022
Jon Watts Spider-Man: No Way Home 2021
Dizzying layers of meta.

4.10.2022
Philip Kaufman Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

4.11.2022
Peter Sollett Metal Lords 2022

Nicolas Winding Refn Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands 2004
Refn is the master of blissfully pushing viewers to their extremes, a euphoric use of music, and giving nudity and sex an almost offensive quality.  Mads Mikkelsen gets quite heavy in the film, beautiful performance. Soundtrack by Peter Peter (Pusher, Bleeder, Pusher 3, and Valhalla Rising).

4.13.2022
James Whale  The Invisible Man 1933
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

Woody Allen Alice 1990
(rewatch)
Watching this for William Hurt, film not as great as I remembered, not bad though.

Ridley Scott Blade Runner 1982
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

4.15.2022
Tony Maylam White Rock 1977
Documentary on the  XII Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1976 hosted by James Coburn. Beautifully shot.

4.17.2022
Denis Villeneuve Dune 2021
(rewatch)
Third time with this film, this time on 4K disc, much better sound and image this way, great film.

4.23.2022
Theodore Melfi St. Vincent 2014
(rewatch)
Traveling lately for work and family so less time in the dark enjoying plato's cave, got to sneak in a rewatch of St. Vincent. Not speaking of the lusterless musician, but the Naomi Watts / Bill Murray / Melissa McCarthy film.

4.24.2022
Joel Edgerton The Gift 2015
(rewatch)

5.1.2022
Bertrand Tavernier Round Midnight 1986
Stunning Tavernier film with the great tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon as the fictional Dale Turner and François Cluzet as Francis Borler, in a fiction film loosely based on the relationship between French author Francis Paudras and Bud Powell. Turner's character also uses Lester Young as inspiration. We also see Herbie Hancock. Martin Scorsese, Philippe Noiret, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Alain Sarde, Billy Higgins, John McLaughlin, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Freddie Hubbard. Gordon's performance is beyond words.

Matt Reeves The Batman 2022
Beautifully shot by Greig Fraser (Dune, Killing Them Softly, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Bright Star) and edited by William Hoy and Tyler Nelson. Not a great film, but hard to not be impressed by its visual qualities.

Michael Winner Death Wish II 1982
(rewatch)
4K from Vinegar Syndrome. Not exactly essential 4K rewatch, but a great example of early 80s sleazy cinema that takes it a bit too far in making the viewer feel uncomfortable, and needing to take a shower to get the grime off, but not necessarily in a bad way. Part of the appeal for this film is the gritty krautish soundtrack by Jimmy Page.

Paul King Paddington 2 2017
(rewatch)
Didn't hit me much on a second viewing, but certainly not without interest. High Grant gives great performance.

5.2.2022
David Lynch Mulholland Drive 2001
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch. Second time this year, first via Criterion Collection 4K, now StudioCanal. Stunning package and presentation. Love the Edward Hopper inspired package design.

5.3.2022
Sam Jones Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off 2022

5.4.2022
Stacy Peralta Powell Peralta: The Search for Animal Chin 1987
(rewatch)
Middle school favorite.

Stacy Peralta Bones Brigade: An Autobiography 2012

Buzz Kulik The Hunter 1980

Norman Jewison In the Heat of the Night 1967
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch via Kino Lorber.

5.5.2022
Mike Leigh Meantime 1983
(rewatch)
Huge Mike Leigh fan, but only second time seeing this. Classic for lovers of his work, and the work of Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, and Phil Daniels.

5.6.2022
Robert Eggers The Northman 2022
For my wife and myself, this was one of the most anticipated films of the year. Not huge huge Eggers fans, but certainly liked his other two films. After the credits ended, and my wife with a big smile said "how did you like it", I wasn't sure what to say. It took a couple of days to sink in, reflecting on it in my mind, for me to respond back to her "yes I liked the film, very good, would like to watch it again pronto". A few things that confused me initially was that the film aesthetically look, at times, like a video game, which was a bit off-putting. Also the story can be quite subtle and the references to Shakespeare needed some time to sink in. In a time when many Indie filmmakers are going out and making some of the worst piece of garbage super hero films, it is refreshing that Eggers makes a visionary big budget film, with layers of meaning, and performances worthy of the actors. Good stuff.

5.7.2022
Ivan Passer Born to Win 1971
(rewatch)
Great blu ray presentation from Fun City Editions. Love this film.

Chad Stahelski John Wick: Chapter 2 2017
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

5.12.2022
Rick Charnoski, Buddy Nichols The Tony Alva Story 2019

Justin Kurzel Nitram 2021
Caleb Landry Jones won best actor at Cannes for this film. No f'en joke.

5.14.2022
Robert Eggers The Lighthouse 2019
(rewatch)
Post The Northman, getting into some Eggers rewatches. My favorite of his films, an absurdist aesthetic masterpiece in the tradition of Samuel Beckett, David Lynch, Krzysztof Penderecki, Harold Pinter, and Maya Deren.

5.15.2022
Alain Corneau Tous les matins du monde / All the Mornings of the World 1991
(rewatch)
Essential film for fans of Jordi Savall, Marin Marais, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and the French school of bass-viol composers in general.

Michelangelo Antonioni Blow-Up 1966
(rewatch)
I could spend days watching the park scenes in this film on repeat, or even just having the sound going.

Dario Argento Profondo rosso / Deep Red 1975
(rewatch)
David Hemmings double feature. Despite not being a fan of this film, the Goblin soundtrack is quite memorable and comedic accidental truck killing at the end is perfect. Looks beautiful in the Arrow 4k Dolby Vision release.

Sebastian Meise Great Freedom 2021
Prison film with Franz Rogowski.

5.16.2022
Stacy Peralta Powell Peralta: The Bones Brigade Video Show 1984
(rewatch)

Stacy Peralta Future Primitive: Bones Brigade Video II 1985
(rewatch)
Both childhood favs.

5.17.2022
Adam Leon Italian Studies 2021
non mi è piaciuto.

Various Television :

Reinaldo Marcus Green We Own This City 2022
Has moments of interest, but the story moving all around doesn't really work. Jamie Hector really stands out, great actor.

Antonio Campos The Staircase 2022
Couldn't finish.

Brian Watkins Outer Range 2022
Was not particularly enjoying this show, and then found the last two episodes, and especially the ending to be too problematic. "Too problematic" seems to be my words for a lot of recent television, where moments in the show are quite good (like the actors, or the music), but an overall feeling of disappointment creeps in.

Kogonada & Justin Chon Pachinko 2022
In general, wasn't crazy about the show, but Justin Chon's Episode 4 was pretty good, especially in the way The Cure’s In Between Days (played live by Luamel) playfully interacts with the end of the episode.

Alec Berg and Bill Hader Barry season three 2022
Entertaining. Agree with my screening partner when see says "I sure miss the acting school".

a record of consumption, part five (being a new film journal)

3.14.2022
Denis Villeneuve Polytechnique 2009

Based on the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, a mass murder where misogynist Marc Lépine murdered fourteen women, and wounded ten women and four men.

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger The Red Shoes 1948
(rewatch)

Have had The Red Shoes on LaserDisc, DVD, never on blu ray, and now on 4k, and not seen a Technicolor print, and this feels pretty close to that magic. Was really looking forward to seeing the reds on this, but the yellows, blues and blacks just unreal to see.....

3.15.2022
Joachim Trier The Worst Person in the World 2021

Shot on 35mm (saw a nice hair in the gate). Wonderful film, read it was like a romcom made by Bergman. Good stuff.

3.17.2022
Martin Campbell Casino Royale 2006
(rewatch)

Adrian Lyne Unfaithful 2002
(rewatch)
Diane Lane gets it on with a French bookseller in Soho when she gets bored of Richard Gere.

3.18.2022
Adrian Lyne Deep Water 2022
Garbage.

3.19.2022
William Lustig Maniac Cop 2 1990
(rewatch)

Strange, received the 4K of Maniac Cop 2 and The Accused in the mail, both films with crazed performance by Leo Rossi.

Dario Argento Phenomena 1985
(rewatch)
Jennifer Connelly Giallo style in 4K via Arrow Films.

Goliath Season 4

Goliath season 4 gets into bringing down Big Pharma. Dreamscapes and Chinatown San Francisco dominate the season. Great cast in addition to Billy Bob Thornton include: William Hurt, J.K. Simmons, Elias Koteas, Bruce Dern, Griffin Dunne, Robert Patrick, Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Jena Malone, Beth Grant (Donnie Darko, No Country for Old Men)

James L. Brooks Broadcast News 1987
(rewatch)

Criterion Collection purchase as my wife and I are very much wanting to dig into the William Hurt filmography. Strange role for Hurt as sort of sham news broadcaster inspired by the "anchormania”of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather.

3.20.2022
John Landis An American Werewolf in London 1981
(rewatch)

4K rewatch, via Arrow Films. Can't go wrong with a film with Jenny Agutter. Cinematography by Robert Paynter (Superman II & III, Trading Places, National Lampoon's European Vacation) which has a very pleasant feel especially when the travelers go out to "the moors". Score by Elmer Bernstein, with the song Blue Moon in various versions by Sam Cooke + Bobby Vinton + The Marcels, and Moondance by Van Morrison, plus Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Siân Heder CODA 2021

Very good "feel good" film. Dig the kid's King Crimson Discipline t-shirt. Great performances, especially by the father Troy Kotsur.

Jonathan Kaplan The Accused 1988
(rewatch)
Essential late 80s film.

3.21.2022
William Lusting Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence 1993
(rewatch)
4k rewatch, as with other Maniac Cop films; co-produced and written by Larry Cohen. Robert Davi is great in these films, in MC 3 we find Robert Forster as a smooth talking self-as·sured Doctor Powell. Excellent score by Joel Goldsmith.

Joanna Hogg The Souvenir: Part II 2021
Very nice film!

3.22.2022
Wes Craven The Hills Have Eyes 1977
Visually beautiful film, shot in the Mojave Desert by cinematography Eric Saarinen, who's father was the great architect Eero Saarinen, and grandfather Eliel Saarinen.

Jon Watts Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017
My friend described this as an homage to the more edgy 80s high school films. Good stuff.

Kathryn Bigelow Near Dark 1987
(rewatch)
One of the best vampire films. Music by Tangerine Dream. Beautiful dark stuff, shot by Adam Greenberg (Terminator, Terminator 2, Ghost). Essential 80s film.

3.23.2022
Billy Wilder Some Like It Hot 1959
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

3.24.2022
John Huston The Maltese Falcon 1941
(rewatch)

One only need meditate on the names involved: John Huston, Dashiell Hammett, Humphrey Bogart, Elisha Cook Jr., Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Arthur Edeson (director of photography), Adolph Deutsch (music), Hal B. Wallis.

3.25.2022
Chad Stahelski John Wick 2014
(rewatch)
Essential 4K rewatch.

3.26.2022
Richard Tuggle Tightrope 1984
(rewatch)
Very strange Clint Eastwood film, prostitute obsessed detective in New Orleans after a serial killer.

3.27.2022
Jane Campion The Water Diary 2006
Children reacting to drought.

Thomas Vinterberg Last Round 1993
Stunning early film by Vinterberg, starring Thomas Bo Larsen.

Thomas Vinterberg The Boy Who Walked Backwards 1994
Another beaut by Vinterberg.

Jesper Jargil The Purified 2003
Dogma 95 documentary.

Douglas Sirk Written on the Wind 1956
(rewatch)
Manhattan to Texas with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone. Stunning photography by Russell Metty. Perhaps Sirk's best.

3.28.2022
Jon Watts Spider-Man: Far From Home 2019
High school film with kids going on a cultural tour through Europe, with some trouble from water and fire.

Nicolas Winding Refn Pusher 1996
First Refn film, stunning performance by Kim Bodnia as Frank. Also early film for Mads Mikkelsen.

3.29.2022
John Huston The Misfits 1961
(rewatch)

Serious grown up movie with stunning performances by Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Eli Wallach, Montgomery Clift, and Thelma Ritter. Heavy themes. Screenplay by Arthur Miller, Cinematography Russell Metty whom also shot Written on the Wind a few films up.

3.30.2022
Liu Chia-Liang The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter 1984
Brand new Arrow Films release of Shaw Brothers classic.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz All About Eve 1950
(rewatch)
Eve = Evil.

Katt Shea Poison Ivy 1992

3.31.2022
Michael Steinberg, Neal Jimenez The Waterdance 1992
Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, and William Forsythe play paraplegics in a rehabilitation home. Pretty good film, Snipes and Forsythe are stunning. Grace Zabriskie plays Forsythe's mother.

Todd Haynes Far from Heaven 2002
(rewatch)
Haynes on Sirk. Great film.

Peter Tscherkassky Train Again 2021
(rewatch)
Noticed clips from Spirit of the Beehive and The Shining this time around. Great film.

Peter Tscherkassky Dream Work 2001
(rewatch)
Great stuff.

4.1.2022
Goliath Season 1 & 2
Watching these the last couple of weeks. Again good cast, with more Billy Bob Thornton and John Hurt plus Maria Bello, Molly Parker, Lou Diamond Phillips, Paul Williams and many more.

Grace Lee Barrier Device 2002
Short film on Criterion Channel with Sandra Oh.

Michael Anderson Logan’s Run 1976
(rewatch)
Not a fan of the film but love Jenny Agutter & Richard Jordan in it.

Neil Burger Limitless 2011
I call this too fried on friday night to watch criterion....

a record of consumption, part four (being a new film journal)

2.13.2022
Otakar Vávra Witchhammer 1970

From Severin's boxset All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror. Czech film tells the story of the Northern Moravia witch trials of the 1670s. Interesting beginning, where a dirty bastard explains the origin of sin is to be found in women, over a montage of nude women in a bathhouse (Beauty comes from the Devil).

Delbert Mann Marty 1955
(rewatch)

Perfect film.  What could be better than watching a movie of mostly failed dates.

Yorgos Lanthimos Nimic 2019

Alexandre Rockwell Sweet Thing 2020

2.14.2022
Jane Campion An Angel at My Table 1990

Following up on my "watch ever Jane Campion film" idea this month, we now arrive at one of the heaviest An Angel at My Table, not an easy watch, but worth it to stick through it. A tad dull initially, but as we get more familiar with Janet Frame's trials and tribulations, the more engaging the film became.

Mauricio Corco Espinoza Yun  2020

2.15.2022
Georgiy Kropachyov, Konstantin Ershov Viy 1967
Kåre Bergstrøm Lake of the Dead 1958
Viðar Víkingsson Tilbury 1987
Mario Andreacchio The Dreaming 1988
James Bogle Kadaicha 1988

From Severin's boxset All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror.

William Friedkin Cruising 1980
(rewatch)

Arrow blu ray. Third time seeing this, besides it being just an overwhelming disorienting horror film, the use of music and sound design is brilliant throughout the film, having the music often times present but a little louder than it needs to be, adds to the disorienting quality to this film and gives the bizarre end that extra kick. Possibly the best Friedkin film?

2.16.2022
Tsui Hark Once Upon a Time in China II & Once Upon a Time in China III 1992

Melvin Van Peebles Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song 1971

Opens with 12 year old Mario Van Peebles naked on top of and engaging with a naked prostitute. Crazy psychedelic stuff, highly creative, hard to watch, and truly avant'garde.

Melvin Van Peebles Sunlight 1957

Flickering black and white lushness, sometimes under exposed, sometimes over. Collision of music like Charles Ives collage of folk tunes, patriotic songs, and marching band music. Beautiful film.

Dee Rees Pariah 2011

Stunning film on the turbulent life of a young Brooklyn high school girl.

2.17.2022
Alfred Hitchcock Rear Window 1954
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch. L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart) apartment acting as a camera recording the goings on in the facing apartment.

Alfred Hitchcock The Birds 1963

Wayne Wang Chan is Missing 1982

Wonderfully nonsensical San Francisco neo-noir. Our would be detective Jo (Wood Moy) interrogates a woman but we can't hear because her kid is playing music too loud in his bedroom. Keeps going from here with the private dick stuff..... like a bizarre version of the classic SF Noirs. Great film, a new favorite!

2.20.22
John Carpenter Halloween 1978
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch.

Josef von Sternberg The Devil Is a Woman 1935
(rewatch)

From Indicator's boxset Marlene Dietrich & Josef Von Sternberg at Paramount 1930-1935. Hadn't watch Josef von Sternberg's films in a dog's age.

Ridley Scott The Martian 2015
(rewatch)

Essential 4k rewatch.

2.21.2022
Tod Browning Dracula 1931
James Whale The Invisible Man 1933
George Waggner The Wolf Man 1941
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch. From the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection boxset.

Sydney Pollack Three Days of the Condor 1975
(rewatch)

Hard to not be charmed by Pollack's take on the 70s paranoia aka Klute, Parallax View and All the President's Men.

2.22.2022
Richard Fleischer Mr. Majestyk 1974
(rewatch)

Watched the Kino blu ray. Favorite Bronson film sitting up there with Once Upon a Time in the West and Death Wish.

Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz Messiah of Evil 1973
(rewatch)

2.23.2022
Josef von Sternberg The Scarlet Empress 1934
Josef von Sternberg Shanghai Express 1932
(rewatch)

From Indicator's boxset Marlene Dietrich & Josef Von Sternberg at Paramount 1930-1935.

Kathryn Bigelow Point Break 1991
(rewatch)

My wife and I have watched this once a year since we met, never gets old. Still picking up strange expressions from Gary Busey (Pappas) on each viewing.

2.25.2022
Peter Yates The Friends of Eddie Coyle 1973
(rewatch)

Via Criterion. Essential cinema.

Josef von Sternberg Dishonored 1931

Christopher Nolan Batman Begins 2005

Essential 4K rewatch.

2.26.2022
Tsai Ming-liang Stray Dogs 2013

On a Tsai Ming-liang kick after his recent film. Had not seen this one... jeez what a film. Slow beautiful stuff. Last shot goes on and on and on.... way after you expect the credits to come... but what a great shot, hard to find anything but the sublime in it. As a young man watching these films, I thought Tsai Ming-liang's main actor Lee Kang-sheng was sort of an eccentric screen presence, that was always a pleasure to watch, but over the last few months rewatching these films, his performances are really just so stunning you could count him up there with Gena Rowlands and John Cazale in terms of the skill as an actor he conveys to the audience... in Stray Dogs there is a cabbage eating emotional scene so powerful it is up there in top 10 screen performance. Lee Kang-sheng really can just do anything on screen.

Hirokazu Kore-eda The Truth 2019

2.27.2022
Tsai Ming-liang Journey to the West 2014

Slow film focused on performances by Lee Kang-sheng and Denis Lavant. Tsai Ming-liang likes to sometimes put his actors through an endurance test, doing something physical or emotional (or both) that is clearly not easy for the actor. Here we have Lavant staring into the lens for what seems like forever and Lee Kang-sheng playing a Buddhist monk traversing so slowly through Marseilles it is like a minute a footstep. If not for a script, the film would be perhaps more of a filmed performance, but somehow a clear narrative sinks in and gives some complexity to the film. A shot where Lee Kang-sheng walks down some steps with dust from the space creating magical light flickers was truly a sublime event, with passers by mystified by his actions. The level of precision and focus the actor had to maneuver so slowly down the stairs boggles the mind. Even later as he traverses an alley, Denis Lavant attempts to imitate him and go slow through time and space, and really bringing attention to the virtuosity present in what we are seeing. Often a shot is happening for some time and one gets lost in the beauty, and finally the monk enters the scene both expected and unexpected. Amazing film, one of Tsai Ming-liang's best.

Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight 2008
(rewatch)

Part II with Heath Ledger. Another masterclass in acting, this time with Mr. Ledger, definitely not an overrated performance.

2.28.2022
Steven Spielberg Duel 1971
(rewatch)

ABC Movie of the Week. Story and screenplay by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), directorial debut of Spielberg. Sort of loser businessman Dennis Weaver drives across the California desert getting totally f*cked with by a deranged truck driver. Reminds me of the great line from David Lynch's Twin Peaks: The Return: "It's a world of truck drivers".

Stephen Cone Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party 2015 & Princess Cyd 2017

3.1.2022
Julia Ducournau Raw 2016

Hard to watch! No messing around. Laurent Lucas from With a Friend Like Harry... (2000) plays the father.

3.2.2022
Hal Ashby 8 Million Ways to Die 1986

Good vibe to this film.

Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises 2012
(rewatch)

4K rewatch, had only seen this once at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Not as good as first two, but worth watching. Good cast besides regular crew: Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Mendelsohn, Matthew Modine, Aidan Gillen.

3.3.2022
Sergio Leone The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 1966
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch.

Edward Owens Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts 1968

Peter Tscherkassky Train Again 2021

Kurt Kren inspired train flicker film. Sound by Dirk Schaefer.

3.4.2022
Jackie Chan Police Story 1985
(rewatch)

3.6.2022
Josef von Sternberg Blonde Venus 1932
(rewatch)

From Indicator's boxset Marlene Dietrich & Josef Von Sternberg at Paramount 1930-1935. Previously my favorite von Sternberg film, still resonates very strongly.

Joseph Ellison The Burning aka Don’t Go in the House 1979
(rewatch)

Arrow blu ray release, extended cut with original title The Burning. One tough film, the scene where the killer goes into a clothing store to buy a disco outfit and interacts with the sales clerk who says "I think it's a dynamite outfit" is pretty amazing. The initial burning scene with nudity is quite disturbing. Second time seeing this film and really appreciate it's timbre, underrated horror film. Stars Dan Grimaldi, whom is a recognizable character in The Sopranos. Shot at the Strauss Mansion Museum in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. On the blu ray, there is are two interviews with Joseph Ellison presenting him as an articulate artist with a strong aesthetic, surprised he didn't have a bigger career, he only made one other film Joey.

Calum Waddell, Jim Kunz Grindhouse All-Stars: Notes from the Sleaze-Cinema Underground 2017

Joanna Hogg The Souvenir 2019
(rewatch)

3.7.2022
Joseph Ellison The Burning aka Don’t Go in the House 1979
(rewatch)

Watched with commentary by Stephen Thrower on disc 2 and by Joseph Ellison and producer Ellen Hammill on disc 1.

John Woo Hard Target 1993
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch. Some of the best action sequences ever filmed, especially the explosive end in the warehouse of antiquated Mardi Gras floats and statues. Kino discs has very informative extras like interviews with Yancy Butler, John Woo, and Lance Herniksen.

3.8.2022
Charlotte Stoudt Pieces of Her 2022

Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, David Wenham (LOTR and Top of the Lake), and Gil Birmingham (Hell or High Water, Wind River). Good acting, script is off.

3.9.2022
John Carpenter Prince of Darkness 1987
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch.

Wayne Wang The Joy Luck Club 1993

Based on the novel by Amy Tan, four women play mahjong in San Francisco, and their various family histories are explained through flashbacks.

3.10.2022
Sergio Corbucci Django 1966

John Carpenter They Live 1988
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatch.

Daniel Petrie Lifeguard 1976

Was not familiar with this film, heard about it from the recent WTF podcast with Sam Elliott. Was a bit put off by his derogatory remarks on The Power of the Dog film, especially since I see Tombstone as nothing but a "piece of shit" "Chippendales western", but still hard to dislike the great actor who has been in a few good films like Road House and The Big Lebowski. Lifeguard could be added to the list of solid Elliott films, def has that 70s sleaze which is often great but can sometimes sink into something a little more slimy than you are comfortable with, which it does a bit in Lifeguard in the way women are presented, but overall the film has a good vibe and he is quite excellent in it.

3.11.2022
Taylor Hackford An Officer and a Gentleman 1982

Beautiful film with love story between Richard Gere and Debra Winger, and more tragic one between David Keith and Lisa Blount (from Carpenter's Prince of Darkness). Solid performances by Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Loggia, and Grace Zabriskie! So used to seeing Zabriskie in the strange Lynch roles, it was a little jarring to see her in a more straight role. Strange score by the master Jack Nitzsche in which he mainly abstracts the melody from Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

3.12.2022
Bent Hamer Factotum 2005

Very good film with Matt Dillon as Charles Bukowski’s alter ego, Henry Chinaski. Alcoholism, degenerate gambling, inability to keep a job, and bad relationships. Hard to get that wonderful Bukowski quote from Sideways out of my mind: "Half my life is over, and I have nothing to show for it. I'm a thumbprint on the window of a skyscraper. I'm a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage." Lily Taylor and Marisa Tomei also really wonderful in the film.

John Sturges The Great Escape 1963
(rewatch)

4K via Kino.

3.13.2022
Sam Raimi The Evil Dead 1981 & The Evil Dead II 1987
(rewatch)

Essential 4K rewatches. Had never watched these films back to back, like a jazz song with 2 interpretations by the same artist. Joel Coen assisted in editing the first film. Blood is really stunning in 4k Dolby Vision!

Lawrence Kasdan Body Heat 1981
(rewatch)

Rest In Peace Mr. William Hurt whom passed away today at age 71. One of the best actors of the 80s and 90s, even in films that are not amazing, he would elevate them to great heights. Going to spend the next few weeks savoring his filmography. Starting with one of the best, the South Florida neo-noir with almost unconfortable nudity, sweat flowing, greasy hair, great lines; just a perfect film, which is certainly very much elevated with Mr. Hurt's presence.


David Cronenberg A History of Violence 2005
(rewatch)

William Hurt as the memorable gangster Richie Cusack with the strangely uncomfortable mustacheless goatee. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.