versiunea 1.3. redux (incl. ROCKLAND & alinland)
Sir Roger Deakins' 'Greatest Films List' is a must-see for cinephiles ;)
Only two American directors (Peckinpah and Kubrick), 2 Melville greats, Leone, Fellini, Visconti, Antonioni, Wenders and KIimov's masterpiece. Cinema Greatness !
Brit DoP Deakins (which I know ever since Bob Rafelson's Mountains of the Moon), won two Oscars, for Blade Runner 2049 and 1917, and none for his extraordinary work for the Coen brothers (from Barton Fink, Fargo to The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Hail, Caesar). Also Skyfall, Sicario and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (where he emulates both Wild Bunch and Once Upon a time in the West !).
Is Digger the most divisive film of the year ?
A stunt ?
A vanity project ?
A cinematic hoax ?
A future cult masterpiece and a visionary film ?
Give it a try in the cinemas and don't let the trailer fool you, there's a gimmick yes but the filmmakers asked us not to spolier the film -those who reead my blog know that I hardly mention plots and the story of the film I am 'reviewing' here.
I am happy that I liked it, went with a lot of sketicism and came out Happy ! or maybe, Happy is not the right word, it's an intense, deep, layered piece of masterful cinema !
...and I must say I am neither a Tom Cruise or Alejandro Iñárritu fan (except Birdman) !
Described as a 'comedy of catastrophic promoportions' the film is more than that, from farce to satire to Meta and Meta Meta cinema. It's been Iñárritu's project for 10 years and Cruise came onboard in 2019.
To enhance and perfect the story Iñárritu worked with at least 5 screenwriters (that's what's credited onscreen).
It's also gonna be the last film released by the Warner Bros. studios in thier 103 years long run, before the infamous merger upcoming. It was not planned this way but it works as a super-expensive subversive goodbye F88k You !
I mostly agree with Mark Kermode video review. I disagree on the point that you'd definetly read more and different into the film into a second viewing but who would ever wanna do that ? And with his conclusion. (also I disagree on his opinion of Eyes Wide Shut. My main problem with that film was Tom Cruise but he is making that film go).
I will see it a second time. I'm sure it will be even better.
*went and did that. And it was even better, another layer of filmmaking, other small discoveries. It's a see more, more to discover reward, I guess I'll go again in a while ;)
You can read the whole thing through the perception of the cat story (Empathise 'Perception'). I think it's the most important clue in the world of Digger Rockwell, as a crazy Rosebud of this film subtext.
The acting ensemble is sensational, Riz Ahmed should won supporting actor Oscar (he looked to me like Groucho Marx,, (Tom Cruise surely will be shunned!), John Goodman as hammy as Slim Pickens was in Strangelove (he definetly deserves an Oscar too, imo he fid a Trump), Michael Stuhlbarg, Robert John Burke, Sandra Hüller, Burn Gorman, Emma D'Arcy, Pip Torrens and a very interesting part for Jesse Plimons.
I'd give a clue on some influences: obviously Iñárritu's own Birdman, Kubrick's Dr. Strangleove, Charlie Kaufman's “Synecdoche, New York.” and as observed as planted clues onscreen (as posters), Lubitsch with To Be or Not To Be and John Cassavetes' Opening Night. Parts look like a Wes Anderson film, parts like Coen bros, that's because of emulating Classic screwball comedies from the 30's Roy Andersson (the UN council scene), even a wink to Cuaron's Children of Men. And shades of Citizen Kane. And Monty Python !
Guillermo De Toro says it best: " Love it or not. And, yes, I do. The film delivers in scale, ambition and reach at a theatrical screen level. Daring, bold and cinematically complex. Decidedly a theatrical experience."
*The most cinematic experience you can have now in cinemas, also watch for HOPE and RESIDENT EVIL and if you are a dog lover go and weep at Heart of the Beast !
**
Loved the Yosihiro Nakayama pun ! The guy with the tuna story who is actually a climate scientist.
***
The UN scene -esp. the one-shot-bravura on steadycam is one of the best shots in recent cinema history, film school 101.
****I rarely say (write) this, but I wished the film was even longer. I saw some shots from the trailer/teaser that did not make it into the final theatrical cut.
*****
Might be the most quatable flick since The Big Lebowski. The compasisons with Dont Look Up are out of order. That was a pedestrian film, no filmic qualities whatsoever, this is out in the fields of mad, and Movieland. And more ;)
Transilvania Blues
Nights îl aduce pentru prima dată la București pe Rob
Tognoni – „The Tasmanian Devil!
Originar din Tasmania,
Australia, Rob Tognoni este unul dintre cei mai explozivi chitariști ai
scenei blues-rock internaționale. Cunoscut drept „The Tasmanian Devil”,
Rob combină blues-ul, blues-rock-ul și classic rock-ul într-un stil propriu,
energic și imprevizibil.
Cu o carieră de peste
patru decenii și peste 25 de albume powerhouse în discografie, Rob
Tognoni și-a construit reputația unui performer care trebuie văzut live. A
cântat pe scene din întreaga lume și a împărțit scena cu artiști precum Peter
Green, Sting, ZZ Top și Bo Diddley.
Influențele sale merg
de la Cream și Jimi Hendrix până la B.B. King și AC/DC, iar chitara sa
este întotdeauna în centrul spectacolului.
“Australian Rob
Tognoni is one of the finest guitar players around today. His work is a
combination of classic rock, blues & blues rock and is done with utmost
passion and precision...”
— Bandit Blues
Radio, USA
După Rebel (2024),
albumul descris de Eclipse Magazine drept un „Asskicker”, Rob
Tognoni a revenit pe 9 iulie 2026 cu un nou album, Black On Black.
Get Ready to ROCK! îl descrie drept un material de hard rock plin de energie
neobosită, intensitate concentrată și versuri fără compromisuri, în
perfectă întâlnire cu riff-urile sale puternice.
După trei întâlniri cu
publicul brașovean la Transilvania Blues Nights — în 2022, 2024 și 2025, în
trei formule diferite — Rob Tognoni revine în România în 2026, de
această dată pentru prima sa apariție la București.
ROB TOGNONI – THE
TASMANIAN DEVIL
Hope/Hopeu is a crazy madcap rollercoaster made in Korea by master filmmaker Na Hong-jin (author of The Chaser,-2008 The Yellow Sea-2010 and The Wailing-2016). Saw all of them in Cannes at the fest. Hope premiered this year in the Cannes Film Festival, in the official competition. The vfx were not completed so the film scored a mixed reception. It's also the most expensive Korean film to-date.
But Hopeu (the name of the finctional South Korean fishing village) is:
not a monster film
not a sci-fi film
not a thriller
not a comedy
not a horror
but all in ONE.
Oh, what a ride !!!! Predator and Korean misfits, a mixed of genres and an cinematic energy only seen in the Mad Max films. Plus some Prometheus trops (don't listen to the Avatar people;)
Well, the duration is self-indulgent, 160 mins.
But the film is NON-STOP KINETIC, with spellbinding images and exceptional cinematography.
Incredibly the Mountain /wood scenes were shot in Retezat mountains in Romania !!!
The VFX are not 100 % there, due to budget limitations, but the vision is hugely ambitious.
The new Resident is Evil ;)
Zach Cregger's new film after the success of last year's Weapons and before, his feature debut with Barbarian (2022) is a Resident Evil reboot. Obviously he is a huge fan of the game which I've never played and I've been bored to death with the series, started in 2002 with Paul W. Anderson/ Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil(s). I know that George A. Romero was the 1st one supposed to do the film and his script and project was rejected back then. It looks like Cragger had full imunity -Carte Blanche-and a huge budget. It's also considerd to be perfect Game play movie, I'd skip that atribute as I don't play video games, but here comes asa quality and I could see how it moves like that, but transcends on the screen beautifully...
One of this year's best if not the best Horror flick in cinema, tie with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
To be seen on the Big Screen, with the best Sound !
4 out of 5, 8 out of 10 !!!
La final de
septembrie, Transilvania Blues Festival închide, ca în fiecare an,
sezonul festivalurilor de blues din România. Ajuns la cea de-a VIII-a ediție,
festivalul marchează în 2026 un nou capitol: pentru prima dată, programul se
desfășoară outdoor, pe durata a trei zile, într-unul dintre cele
mai reprezentative spații istorice ale Brașovului — Bastionul Țesătorilor.
Între 25
și 27 septembrie, publicul este invitat la trei seri care aduc împreună
artiști internaționali din Italia, Statele Unite și Marea Britanie, alături de
o producție originală semnată de muzicieni brașoveni.
Noua ediție
păstrează direcția festivalului de a aduce la Brașov artiști importanți ai
scenei internaționale de blues, dar extinde experiența într-un nou format, în
care muzica, patrimoniul și producțiile contemporane se întâlnesc într-un
cadru istoric.
În
premieră în România
Seara de
vineri începe cu Gloria and the Doctors, trio-ul italian format din Gloria
Turrini (voce, percuție), Simone Scifoni (clape) și Riccardo Ferrini (chitară).
Un proiect
aflat la intersecția dintre blues, soul și muzica de inspirație afro-americană,
Gloria and the Doctors s-au clasat pe locul al II-lea la European Blues
Challenge 2026, desfășurat la Katowice.
Cel mai
recent album al trio-ului, Dat Nola Trip, lansat în 2023, a fost
înregistrat la New Orleans și îi are ca invitați pe muzicieni precum Andy
J. Forest și Roberto Luti.
În
premieră în România
Una dintre
vocile puternice ale noii generații de Chicago Blues, Robbin Kapsalis,
se întâlnește pe aceeași scenă cu britanicul Giles Robson, unul dintre
puținii muzicieni europeni distinși cu un Blues Music Award.
Concertul de
la Brașov propune o întâlnire între Chicago Blues, soul și rhythm &
blues contemporan.
În
premieră la Brașov
Proiect al
noii generații londoneze, Chris Rand and the Heavy Echo explorează zona
de întâlnire dintre blues, jazz, soul și rhythm & blues.
Condus de
pianistul, saxofonistul și vocalistul Chris Rand, grupul este cunoscut
pentru spectacolele energice și componenta de improvizație.
Câștigător
al mai multor Blues Music Awards, John Németh este unul dintre
cei mai apreciați vocaliști și muzicuțiști ai blues-ului american contemporan.
Stilul său
combină blues-ul tradițional cu soul, gospel și rhythm & blues, iar
concertele sale au ajuns pe importante scene de blues din întreaga lume.
Cine-concert
| Producție originală | Instalații holografice | Experiență VR
Festivalul
se încheie cu o nouă versiune a producției originale Blüesferatü – Eine
Symphonie des Blues.
Capodopera
expresionismului german Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens
(1922) revine într-o reinterpretare construită în jurul unei coloane sonore
de blues psihedelic, compusă și interpretată live de muzicieni brașoveni.
După
reprezentațiile de la Castelul Bran și TIFF Timișoara, Blüesferatü
revine într-o nouă formulă scenică, completată de instalații holografice,
experiențe VR și noi componente vizuale dezvoltate special pentru ediția
2026.
Astfel,
ultima zi a festivalului extinde conceptul Transilvania Blues dincolo de
formatul clasic de concert, reunind filmul, muzica live și tehnologiile
imersive într-o producție originală. Partea tehnologică este asigurată de
Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, parteneră a Asociației Transilvania Arts
& Events în cadrul proiectului european HEAT (heat-xr.eu).
Mutarea
festivalului în Bastionul Țesătorilor marchează o etapă importantă în
evoluția Transilvania Blues Festival.
Un spațiu
istoric al Brașovului, administrat de Muzeul Județean de Istorie Brașov,
devine timp de trei zile cadrul întâlnirii dintre patrimoniu și muzica blues.
Prin noua
formulă outdoor, festivalul își propune să creeze o experiență în care locul
nu este doar decorul concertelor, ci parte din povestea festivalului.
Ziua 1 / Ziua
2: 160 lei – presale |
200 lei – în ziua concertului
Ziua 3: 70 lei – presale | 100 lei – în ziua
concertului
Abonament 3
zile: 320 lei – presale
Biletele
sunt disponibile online prin iabilet.ro și ambilet.ro.
Transilvania
Blues Festival este un proiect cultural organizat de Asociația Transilvania
Arts & Events.
BCR ·
ButanGas · Dräxlmaier · Tehnic Mihor · Aplind · Universitatea Transilvania din
Brașov · Orange · Centrul Cultural German Brașov · Institutul Goethe · Amikal ·
Stoker Wines · Brașov Old Town Apartments · A-Ha Bistro · Coliba Haiducilor ·
Rock FM · Zile și Nopți
B. There
& Let There B. Blues!
Eveniment
Facebook: Transilvania Blues Festival - Ediția a
VIII-a
This curio is in Romanian theaters now -very limited.
For thouse who want a psychedelic experience, with great visuals, music and sound design, go for it !
The rest can wait for the Netflix relase on Oct. 16.
It's a film by Romain Gavras, the son of legendary Costa-Gavras.
It's about the end of the world (maybe?), a volcano, a benefit celebrity gala and a group of nutty Nordic eco-terrorists.
Chris Evans playing the Hollywood celebrity actor Mike Tyler ( that is now a mess) looks more like a young Nic Cage. Anya Taylor-Joy is the psychotic Terrorist boss, Vincent Cassel, bald and mean, as Ben Bracken, a bio-billionaire, John Malkovich more cameos as the mad scientist Gunnar.
The film looks more like directed by a Panos Cosmatos ;)
Simillarities with Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia (tho that was a remake). The film has a weird New Greek Cinema style and feeling.
Read there is a genre. `Eat the Rich' films like those of Ruben Ostlund (The Triangle of Sadness), The Menu and Blink Twice.
It's visully stunning, with great soundtrack, sound design and fabulous locations.
Greece (the stone quarry), Bulgaria (Podhodna cave aka The Eyes of God) and Iceland for the volcano.
In Ingles ;) here:
Scrisă pentru retrospectiva TIFF 25 in AperiTIFF.
"They're
Filming Midgets..."
O fi rai, iad sau
purgatoriu? E Bruges!
Un debut extraordinar
al irlandezului Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), In Bruges este unul din cele mai bune
filme ale anului 2008 și mult mai mult de atât. Film cult par excellence, îi crește
valoarea de fiecare data când îl revăd. Sunt însă siderat, după debutul de la
Sundance, filmul nu a luat atunci niciun premiu major, Globul de Aur pentru
Colin Farrell și nominalizare la Oscar pentru scenariu original, câștigător la
acestă categorie la BAFTA.
Îmi place însă să
cred că a făcut pentru turismul din Bruges ceea ce Vacanță la Roma a
făcut pentru Roma!
Eu, de exemplu,
am fost o zi în 2014 și am mers exact cu opiniie lui Ray versus părerile opuse
ale lui Ken.
Cuplul Colin
Farrell / Ray -Brendan Gleeson /Ken e fabulos, și McDonagh le-a mai dat un film
extraordinar împreună 14 ani mai târziu, The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022).
Iar Ralph Fiennes
/Harry e impecabil, feroce, un personaj irezistibil.
Se simte că
McDonagh e și dramaturg și că influențele lui literare vin din Teatrul
Absurdului, dar filmul e extrem de cinematografic.
În primul rind e
tributar piesei lui Harold Pinter, din 1959. The Dumb Waiter, tadusă în
românește Liftul pentru mâncare sau Micul lift. La rîndul ei,
piesa lui Pinter se inspiră din cea a lui Samuel Beckett, Așteptându-l pe
Godot (1953). Adaugă un pic de British Gangster Cinema, aici Irish, un pic
de peisaj de Breugel din Bruges, nihilism, o traumă mortală, un love story
improbabil și un umor negru și absurd de nota 11.
Alte piste: Touch
of Evil, Don’t Look Now, Carlito’s Way, picturile lui
Hieronymus Bosch.
Muzica lui Carter
Burwell, cel mai probabil via frații Coen (v. Fargo în aceeași
retrospectivă TIFF de comedii negre), cu care McDonagh a început o frumoasă
colaborare pentru toate filmele sale ulterioare.
La fel ca și Fargo,
In Bruges nu a rulat la vremea lui în cinema în România.
Alin Ludu
Dumbravă
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) id the 2nd film of New Zeelander James Ashcroft. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: meets Bubbahotep (without the mummy ;) and Misery. Rush and especillay Lihgow are a blast, one of Lithgow's best. Stellar acting. Not for the faint of heart ;)
Tim Curry aka Dr Frank-N-furter, on stage since 1973 !
Curry was 80, he had a stroke in 2012 and sice then did mostly voiceover work.
Quintessential as Dr. Frank-N-Furter the Transexual Vampyre from Transylvania in the cult movie that invented the Midnight Movie Madness, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), also featuring Meat Loaf.
Wadsworth in Clue )1985)
The clown from It (1990), the original Pennywise
Dr Petrov in The Hunt for the Red October opposite Sir Sean Connery...
And the infamous Romanian con Herkemer Homolka, 'at last freed from Ceausescu's chains' from the very bad guilty pleasure movie Congo (1995, Frank Marshall). I guess the neme came from Oskar Homolka ?
"While filming Congo, I sat on top of a Volcano talking to Tim Curry..." - Bruce Campbell said about sitting on top of a volcano talking with Tim Curry.
Curry earned three Tony nominations and a Daytime Emmy and released three musical albums in his career.
The great and unique Dolly Parton is gone...The 'Queen of Country" was 80 !
She did 9 to 5 and beyond....
another New Zeeland bleak vision of a world gone f888d...
debut
A Gem
one of the best i've seen recently...
TBC
The Rock with Hnas Zimmer & Harry Gregson-Williams
point of no return -American Nikita
etc....
Frank Beard, the ZZ Top drummer for 57 years (!) has died at 77. The Texas power-blues band was formed in 1969 and stayed together until Bass player Dusty Hill died in 2021. It's still the longest running band in history with the original line-up (51 years!!!).
Then Billy Gibbons and Beard continued with a new bass player.
Frank Beard was the only ZZ Top member to not have a beard, well he wore one on his name... RIP...
Last In, First Out / L'ordre et la sécurité du monde (1978)
Claude d'Anna is an obscure (pardon my French;) arthouse French director. I have not seen any film of his until this one. I guess this is also a curio in his filmography, it is obvious this is not a thriller / genre director at work here.
Youtube just put this film in front of me (scroll down), with a cover still of Dennis Hopper. So, obviously I took a look...it's dubbed in French. Some small passages though, his real voice can be heard...(he does not talk much ;)
A very ecclectic cast: Marie-France Bonin (as Laure Dechansel, also co-writer, her real job) , she is the lead and the weakest element of the ensemble, Bruno Cremer (picked probably after Friedkin's Sorcerer). Gabriele Ferzetti, Dennis Hopper, Donald Pleasence (his part is barely a cameo), Joseph Cotten (petty cool as the big boss), Michel Bouquet (mosltyl on the phone), Pierre Santini and Vernon Dobtcheff as the Receptionist ! The names of the characters are cool too, Richter, Herzog, Rothko, Medford, Lehman, Muller, Kauffer and Foster Johnson (Cotten), serious names if you ask me, but you don't ;)
Cool pre-credits intro, also interesting title sequence, after which you would expect more to come, but...
The train goes Zurich -Belfort-Paris. There's a chase between Cremer and Hopper, pretty well done. That's about all the action you get. And a downbeat ending, very much a la maison in the French, Italian films of that time.
Most interesting of course today to see for Hopper, who is at his most menacing as Medford, the mercenary in pursuit of the dossier. He sits many scenes on the train, in the back, a silhouette, chain-smoking.
He looks like a psycho, black leather jacket, cool haircut, and nasal spray. He's a like a younger version of Frank Booth. Hopper did some European fares at the time (The American Friend), then he went to do Apocalypse Now in the Philippines.
#Music by Claude Nougaro and Maurice Vander, with a cool (but sad) song on the end credits (Nous n'avons pas de passeport).
All the film here !
3 out of 5 / 6 out of 10 !
What A Cast!... What A Past!... What A Show!...
Plot: A widow (Shirley MacLaine) discusses her past four marriages with her shrink. All of her four husbands got incredibly rich and died abruptly because of their money driven goals.
What a Way to Go! is a zanny 1964 comedy, ahead of its time. A combo of genres, parodies, witty script and great cast, plus Edith Head's costumes and gowns. Glorious CinemaScope (2.35.1), a very expensive film at the time.
You can say it was a leftie film, the idea of money can't bring you happiness, really , right? ;).
Screenwriters: Legendary Broadway duo Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
The director is Brit J. Lee Thompson, that is mostly known for thrillers (the original Cape Fear), war movies (The Guns of Navarone), Planet of the Apes sequels (he was supposed to direct the original), westerns (Mackenna's Gold), a weird reincarnation film (The Reincarnation of Peter Proud) and many Charles Bronson vehicles. But in the 60's Thompson did a couple of off-beat comedies, next on John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! written by William Peter Blatty, also with Shirley MacLaine.
Coincidentally I finished the new Cape Fear series, after much wanting to see again the original, on J. Lee Thompson's birthday, August 1st (he was born in 1914!).
Pussy is no more...Vincent Pastore played most famously Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO drama series The Sopranos, for which he got a Screen Actors Guild Award.
He was also in Scorsese's Goodfellas and the HBO film Gotti. He was 80...
