Seen and not seen's, recommendations and queries on top films in general.

[alcohole]

The ending scene of the original Wicker Man is still one of the scariest things i've seen in a film

[NerveGas]

Finally saw Parasite now that it came to my streaming platform. 5/5, definitely worthy of the hype surrounding it. Definitely one of the most interesting movies I've seen in years.

I have seen this a few times, and it is definitely one of the best films made recently (especially the ending!).  It totally deserved all of the praise/awards that it got.

Parasite is above average at best. Obviously camera & acting is brilliant but the story is just telling the viewer exactly how to feel about class struggle. No room for interpretation there. It's like being fed the message with a spoon. Also - did the son actually catch this super long morse letter just by pure chance or is this part of the imaginary ending? Please tell me it is...

Agreed. Above average at best. One of the better new films I've seen this year, but that speaks more to how much garbage comes out then it does to the quality of this specific film. I was fine with most of the movie regardless of how heavy handed it was, but the ending just seemed like too neat of a wrap up.

[cantle]

Got round to watching Boiled Angels on Mike Diana. A worthwhile what to spend an hour and a half. I vaguely remember being aware of it at the time through Headpress zine, still seems relevant today but I imagine the result shit storm would be bigger given social media....

[absurdexposition]

Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1993)

Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.

This was great. Nice rural/coastal locations in New Brunswick, Canada. I don't even want to say anything more about it for fear of doing it any disservice... but that soundtrack by Hahn Rowe, damn. It's criminal that it has no release anywhere. Would make an excellent addition to any noise collection.

[NerveGas]

Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1993)

Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.

This was great. Nice rural/coastal locations in New Brunswick, Canada. I don't even want to say anything more about it for fear of doing it any disservice... but that soundtrack by Hahn Rowe, damn. It's criminal that it has no release anywhere. Would make an excellent addition to any noise collection.

This movie is great. I rarely hear anyone talk about it either despite it seeming to be decently well known and having a Criterion release. Would like to see Keane as well. Same director and seems to be similar story about mental illness. Haven't had much time for movies lately, though.

[monster ripper]

Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1993)


This was great. Nice rural/coastal locations in New Brunswick, Canada. I don't even want to say anything more about it for fear of doing it any disservice... but that soundtrack by Hahn Rowe, damn. It's criminal that it has no release anywhere. Would make an excellent addition to any noise collection.

I tried contacting the director about 15 years ago with the hopes of releasing the soundtrack, but never got a reply.  Wasn't sure if the e-mail I had was even valid though, so I wasn't to surprised.

[absurdexposition]

Clean, Shaven (Lodge Kerrigan, 1993)


This was great. Nice rural/coastal locations in New Brunswick, Canada. I don't even want to say anything more about it for fear of doing it any disservice... but that soundtrack by Hahn Rowe, damn. It's criminal that it has no release anywhere. Would make an excellent addition to any noise collection.

I tried contacting the director about 15 years ago with the hopes of releasing the soundtrack, but never got a reply.  Wasn't sure if the e-mail I had was even valid though, so I wasn't to surprised.

Damn.

I was poking around a bit and stumbled upon this screenshot:


I guess they did have some ideas of the soundtrack's appeal.

I wonder how easy it would be to release if contact was made. I see that Warner Bros was one of the production companies, might be some licensing headaches.

[absurdexposition]

Isn't the soundtrack included as downloadable mp3s on the Criterion DVD release?

Yes, see screenshot in my post. Absolutely deserves a proper release, though.

Tepepa (Giluio Petroni, 1969)

The Mexican guerilla leader Tepepa and his gang fight against the chief of police, Cascorro.

The 1000th film I've watched since August 1, 2011...

A lengthy Zapata western starring Thomas Milian and John Steiner, with Orson Welles poking his big bad sweaty colonel face in on occasion.

Spurred on to watching following the news of Ennio Morricone's passing. His score, conducted by another great Italian composer, Bruno Nicolai, is relatively simple with a sentimental main theme that overall didn't grab me, but when those Mexican vihuela guitars kick in it goes just as hard as the Dollars trilogy themes.

This is the 34th Morricone-scored film I've seen, and that's still only 9% of the 350+ films he's worked on.

So many favourites scored by Morricone, across decades and across genres. Spaghetti westerns, giallo, horror. Thinking of the great scores to Who Saw Her Die? and Kill the Fatted Calf and Roast It with creepy children chorales, the grandiose scale of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, not to mention Black Belly of the Tarantula, The Big Gundown, The Thing, Days of Heaven, many an Argento... He's almost peerless in his versatility, ingenuity and longevity. A true legend.

RIP Maestro. Viva Morricone!

[ConcreteMascara]

Was sad to hear of Morricone's passing as well, but living to 91 years... you can't complain too much about that!

Two weeks ago I watched Avengers: End Game after watching all of the Marvel movies in release order over the past few months. I saw only a handful in the theaters so it was interesting be able to see how they weaved it all together over a decade. Obviously I get that there's a shit load of Marvel comics story lines that back-boned it but still to get it all the way to the last two Avengers movies and stick the landing was impressive to me. On an individual movie level or even series level there's a lot of things to pick at and criticize and those comments might be valid enough, but for me, bashing these movies because they're different than other movies I like is pointless and meaningless. Is Captain Marvel as good as Tarkovsky's Solaris, no. Is it easy fun, sure. Are most giallo films silly sleazy, nonsensical affairs? Yes. Do I love them anyway? Yes. I love them because of that. I would say most of what I watch are genre films that don't aspire beyond their basic premise and I love them for it. So why would I criticize comic books movies for being comic book movies? I guess my point is I was able to enjoy the Marvel movies for what they were instead of what they weren't and the experience has made the pandemic less bad. It also made my fiance happy because she can only handle so many yakuza or slasher films.

On a totally different note, last weekend I watched Samurai Spy by Masahiro Shinoda. I worship Shinoda's Pale Flower, but had no idea how this would stack up. While it didn't become an instant favorite like Pale Flower, I enjoyed the hell out of it. Out the gate you get a barrage of factions and names to try and remember, but I didn't find it to be nearly as complicated as some reviews claimed. It's 3 factions, 1 main character, some other important players. I didn't find it to be any harder to follow than a Kurosawa flick or other samurai genre films. What I thought more than anything was it felt sooo much like an anime about ninjas and samurai. Especially the one spymaster dressed in all white with a grappling hook weapon thing and the cool slow motion jumping and freeze frame tricks. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Ninja Scroll, but without titties and demons... which I guess is the majority of Ninja Scroll so maybe its a bad comparison. The back and forth between ninja action and exposition also felt very anime. I can definitely recommend.

[online prowler]

Samurai Spy by Masahiro Shinoda is a classic. I presume you saw the Criterion restoration version? I see what you mean by Ninja Scroll. I was having the same reference when I saw it. Haven't seen either in some time now, so should revisit soon.

I don't recall what I saw or wrote I saw here last time. Been a few since that, but one of the latest that stuck to mind was the US film The Eyes of Laura Mars from 1978 directed by  Irvin Kershner. Starring the royal Faye Dunaway and actor Tommy Lee Jones in the main leads. The original treatment was written by John Carpenter and if I recall correctly he was also supposed to direct the film, but that did not ripe to fruit. This is a genre film in the realm of giallo and thriller. The psychosexual kind with serial killer. I can wholeheartedly recommend this to any fans of Giallo films. Check the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_-4L-mssnQ

[absurdexposition]

The Eyes of Laura Mars from 1978 directed by  Irvin Kershner. Starring the royal Faye Dunaway and actor Tommy Lee Jones in the main leads. The original treatment was written by John Carpenter and if I recall correctly he was also supposed to direct the film, but that did not ripe to fruit. This is a genre film in the realm of giallo and thriller. The psychosexual kind with serial killer. I can wholeheartedly recommend this to any fans of Giallo films. Check the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_-4L-mssnQ

I had pretty much the opposite review when I watched it: Pretty underwhelming American giallo. Fulci did the whole psychic vision thing better with, well, The Psychic the previous year. There are shades of De Palma throughout, but I wonder what this would have been like had John Carpenter helmed it instead of merely having written the screenplay.

[Atrophist]

I recently watched Ultras, an Italian film about a (fictional) firm of football hooligans in Naples (not to be confused with the 80's film Ultra, this one came out in 2020).

The film focuses on Sandro, the leader of the old guard of the firm, who is pushing fifty and beginning to question his life choices. Especially now that he is banned from the stadium and he has to report to a police station during each match, to prove he is not causing more trouble.

I was surprised to see the film mostly got negative reviews, and for many commentators the reason they didn't like it was that "it wasn't as good as Green Street Hooligans". What the hell are these people on? Frodo as a hooligan? An American actor playing the leader of the, West Ham was it, hooligan firm, with a goofy British accent and strutting around like he has an invisible brick hanging from his balls?

Easy to recommend to anyone into hooligan/skinhead/other subculture films.

[holy ghost]

Suspira remake - really enjoyed it. Obviously a big fan of the original, I thought they did a great job.

The Old Guard - good solid action flick if not exactly superb writing. Fun! I liked it.

The Great - good show, very funny.

Fleabag - hysterically funny

[ConcreteMascara]

Cure - 1997 [dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa]
I have been trying to watch this one for a long time. Found out the today it was on the Criterion Channel. Happily i already took the day off, so it's providence. So much better than i could have ever anticipated. It's dark ambient as film in the best way possible. Visually impeccable, sound design amazing, placing just right. I was totally enthralled. And skips all the worst tropes of j-horror too. Highest recommendation!

[aububs]

yeah Cure is incredible. i highly recommend the movie Angel Dust (1994) if you haven't seen it already. very similar in tone, agenda and execution to Cure. and just as good.