In my continuing attempt to post all the reviews I’ve done for Cinema Sentries on this blog, I’m digging deep into the archives. The Library of American Comics continually puts out these beautiful hard-cover books of old newspaper comics.
As I note in my review I was never a big Popeye fan, but these strips are surprisingly amazing. I definitely recommend checking them out.
The first silent film I ever saw was Nosferatu (1922). I can’t remember how old I was but I wouldn’t have been more than about 14. I didn’t actually see all of it, just the last fifteen minutes or so, but I was knocked out by it. I normally ran away from the very thought of silent films (I wasn’t yet even hip to black and white movies) but something about Max Schreck in all that freaky makeup creeping up on that sleeping girl mesmerized me.
Last year I attempted to start a film club on Facebook. The idea was to take turns picking out movies for everyone to watch and then come back and discuss it at our leisure, through a FB post. The movie I chose was Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake of the film Nosferatu the Vampyre. I don’t know if my friends just didn’t like it or that a film club is a bad idea, but only one person responded to the movie. Personally, I love it.
Nosferatu, of course, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has been adapted dozens of times on screen, but there is something about Nosferatu that continues to fascinate.
Robert Eggers recently remade the film and I’m excited to finally get to see it. This new 4K UHD release contains an extended cut and lots of fun extras. I love Nosferatu in its many adaptations and I’m happy to make this new one my Pick of the Week.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Constantine 4k UHD 20th Anniversary Addition: This comic book adaptation starring Keanu Reeves met with a collective shrug from critics and audiences alike when it first came out but like so many things time has caused many to revisit it and its reputation has only grown. I first saw it on an airplane and thought it was awful, but I revisited it last year and found it to be quite enjoyable if not exactly a masterpiece.
Panic Room 4k UHD Steelbook: Another film that isn’t a masterpiece but is sturdily made, beautifully directed by David Fincher, and a ton of fun to watch. The transfer here was approved by Fincher and it’s got loads of cool-looking extras.
The Social Network 4K UHD: This was the first Blu-ray I ever bought. It was sort of accidental as the first time I watched the film I didn’t like it that much, but the Blu-ray was on sale for like two bucks so I laid my money down. I’ve since come to appreciate the film in a big way, especially now that Zuckerberg has proven himself even more of a monster than the film depicts.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim: Animated prequel to the Lord of the Rings movies. It takes its visual inspiration from Peter Jackson’s films. I think it was inspired by some of the other writings J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth, but it is mostly an original story. I’m not deeply steeped in that lore, but I do like those films (still haven’t seen the Hobbit films) so I’ll eventually get around to this.
Drugstore Cowboy: Criterion Collection presents this drug-fuelled road movie from Gus Van Zandt.
My daughter has gotten into anime in a big way. She watches a lot of the series and some of the movies. She’s started reading the mangas and her art is often based around those characters (not to mention her cosplaying). She tries to get me into some of it. Sometimes it takes, but often she’s enjoying it at a much faster pace than I can tolerate.
I don’t think she’s seen this film, as I wrote my review of it in 2021 which I think was before her obsessions with the format began, but I’ll have to show it to her as I remember it being quite good.
I’m an amateur film reviewer. I don’t do this for money. The closest I get is landing some free Blu-rays from Cinema Sentries. I do this for fun. I like movies. I like talking about movies. I think I’m pretty good at it, but I’m not professional. I didn’t go to film school.
I follow a lot of professional film writers on social media. Sometimes they complain about amateur film writers like me. Sometimes they complain that bad reviews just talk about the plot of a movie. Good reviews should talk about a film’s themes, about the filmmaking, and style. Plot synopsis can be found on Wikipedia.
I get that to a degree. But I’d also argue that it depends on what type of review you are doing. Often a review exists simply to give an opinion on whether or not the film is worth watching. To do that you are going to need to talk about plot. At least a little bit. People want to know what a movie is about before they decide whether or not they want to watch it.
I think about these things when I’m writing a review. I think about them when I read old reviews. Because I’m an amateur, because I’ve never studied film in a formal way I don’t always have something meaningful to say about a film. When I don’t have much to say I revert to talking about the plot. I hope I do it in an entertaining, or at least interesting way. I try not to give too much away while still letting you know something about the film. I never think those reviews are my best, but sometimes that’s what you get.
That is a lot of words to say that my review of The Prince’s Voyage is mostly about the plot. That’s actually good for me because I remember very little about it. I wrote this review back in May of 2021. Now you can read it too.
I continue to sing Radiance Films praises. They are carving out a nice little niche market in the larger Boutique Blu-ray landscape. Their focus seems to be on foreign language arthouse films that are lesser known. The type of film that would be skipped by Criterion but are generally still quite good.
Hokuriku Proxy War is a fun little Japanese Crime Drama that is a bit confusing in the story department but more than makes up for it in its action. You can read my full review here.
My wife and I lived in France for about a year back in 2004-2005. While there we traveled a bit around Europe. One of my favorite activities was visiting old Cathedrals. These monuments to Christ and the Church fascinate me. I come from the Church of Christ and they abhor pomp and circumstance, rituals, and any type of artifact or icons. Those visits started a lifetime fascination with the rituals of High Church.
Conclave is about one of the biggest Church rituals – choosing a new Pope. It pays out like a murder mystery/thriller and is tons of fun. Its stacked cast includes Ralph Finnes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini. You can read my full review here.
As per usual, I’m behind on posting these things. The trouble with posting the things I write on Cinema Sentries to this blog is that I write something over there, but it doesn’t get posted until the owner has a look at it and hits publish. Sometimes, he does that the same day, and other times, he waits a while, depending on when the thing I’m writing about comes out.
Once I’ve submitted it I tend to forget all about it. That’s not too big a deal with most things, but when I’m talking about this week’s new releases it’s a little silly to post it on the Saturday after the release date. Yet here we are.
It was a good release week but I chose a bit of childhood nostalgia for my pick. You can read all about it here.
There is a darkness to almost all horror. It is trying to scare you after all. But most horror also contains at least a sliver of light. Someone survives in the end. Evil is vanquished (at least until the sequel). But there is a certain type of horror movie that revels in the darkness, that becomes completely, and utterly bleak.
Eden Lake is one such film.
Steve (Michael Fassbender) learns that developers have bought up an old swimming hole of his, soon to be turned into a posh neighborhood. He decides to take his girlfriend Jenny (Kelly Reilly) there for the weekend.
Almost immediately they are accosted by rude, working-class teens. Though there is an entire lake to enjoy, the teens plop themselves down next to the couple, blast their obnoxious music loudly, allow their vicious dog to roam freely, and generally make asses of themselves.
Ever the hero Steve walks up to the gang, turns their radio down, and asks them to keep their dog away. But then he immediately backs down once the teens push back. This will be a recurring theme. Steve periodically puffs out his chest and roars at the kids and then whimpers back with apologies when they don’t scurry away.
In the morning they’ll find their food covered with ants. During a swim they’ll return to find their bag stolen and along with it the keys to their car. Things escalate from there and turn very dark, violent, and bad.
For the first half of the film, Jenny seems ever a pacifist. She mostly lets Steve do whatever he wants, while also urging him to just leave the kids alone. But once Steve becomes captured she becomes the more stereotypical Final Girl. But it becomes increasingly clear this film wants nothing but to make her suffer. It revels in her humiliation. Once she opens a dumpster lid and finds it completely filled with nasty, liquidy goo. Naturally, she jumps it anyway. There is no reason she couldn’t have just run at that point, but the film really wants her filthy.
All of the characters make terrible decisions all the time. Our heroes have several opportunities to just leave. The kids are obviously up to no good, and this lake, while pretty, isn’t some amazing natural wonder. Yet they stay. The kids escalate things to a ridiculous degree for no good reason.
Even though this lake used to be some kind of recreational area, complete with maps and signage, there is no car park and no discernable trails of any kind. The developers have put up a massive fence around it but apparently done no other work at all.
There is no indication that the lake (which is actually a disused quarry) is all that big, and yet the kids hunt Steve and Jenny for a good day and a half with them never finding their way to a road or a way out.
Etc., and so forth. I’m used to horror movies that make no sense and whose characters make stupid decisions, but this is beyond the pale. It is also mean-spirited. It is relentlessly savage.
Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age but I couldn’t stomach it.
Louis Fugain (Grégoire Ludig) discovers a bloody corpse outside his apartment complex and calls the police. At the police station, he is questioned by Commissaire Buron (Benoît Poelvoorde). Quickly we realize two things 1. Fugain is the main suspect. 2. Buron is an idiot of the Inspector Clouseau variety.
We first see them together at the station. Fugain is seated, waiting impatiently for Buron to get off the phone. His conversation is mundane, trying to set a date with someone for dinner. It lasts a long time. It seems a strange thing for a Commissiare to be doing in front of a man he thinks may have just committed murder. It is a strange movie.
After a few questions, Buron leaves to go speak to his son and eat a hotdog. He leaves Fugain with Phillippe (Marc Fraize) a one-eyed rookie who regularly ends his sentences with “Actually.”
A terrible accident occurs which Buron tries to cover up.
While Buron questions Fugain the film flashbacks to the scene. Sometimes Phillippe, or his wife, or Buron appear in those flashbacks and interact with Fugain even though they were not there in those scenes in the past.
The film plays it half-serious while regularly winking at the audience in its absurdities. It is difficult to explain just how ridiculous, how absurd, how French this film is. I won’t spoil how it ends, but to say it is utterly surprising and yet somehow fitting.
The Rolling Stones
No Filter in Chicago 1st Night -XAVEL ORIGINAL MASTER-」
XAVEL-Silver Masterpiece Series-205
Recorded Live at Soldier Field
Chicago, IL, USA
21st June 2019
[XAVEL ORIGINAL MASTER : Multiple Stereo IEM Sources Matrix Recording]
Trade FLACs >WAV > Change File Names To Reflect Etree Standards, FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.47 By OldNeumanntapr
(Disc 1)
01. Opening
02. Street Fighting Man
03. Let’s Spend the Night Together
04. Tumbling Dice
05. Sad Sad Sad
06. You Got Me Rocking
07. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
08. Angie
09. Dead Flowers
10. Sympathy for the Devil
11. Honky Tonk Women
(Disc 2)
01. Band Introductions
02. You Got the Silver (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
03. Before They Make Me Run (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
04. Miss You
05. Paint It Black
06. Midnight Rambler
07. Start Me Up
08. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
09. Brown Sugar
Encore:
10. Gimme Shelter
11. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Lineage: Silver CDs > XLD (secure and accurate ripper) > FLAC
2019/06/21 Soldier Field, Chicago, IL IEM SBD
No Filter in Chicago 1st Night Disc 1 XAVEL
themidnightcafe.org 