NWR originals -Refn 's comeback ? more like Refn's goodbye...or His Private Hell instead of Her Private Hell !
10 years ago he divided the cinema world last time with The Neon Demon, then he antagonised execs with his streaming fares, Copenhagen Cowboy for netflix, which of course never got renewed..
now he was in Cannes (out of competition with the worst reviews of his career) and is in Romanian theaters even with his new UFO, Her Private Hell.
Now, I wished I liked this, but no... fell asleep almost.
Well the film is a dream, a dream within a dream, with dream logic and nightmares. It's supposedly concieved after Refn had a clinical death of 25 minutes in 2023...
Mist, The Letherman, Metropolis and crystals, models who can't act, yakuza and choreographed empty fights, disco inferno, lesbianism., incest. A Refn original ;)
mixing giallo, B Sf & japanese action/yakuza films (Seijun Suzuki?).
Again the Hans Christian Andersen trauma, the girl with the matches...
visuals of Barbarella, Diabolik and Flash Gordon ? Terrore nello spazio / aka Planet of the Vampires ?Tron meets Suspiria and other Argento fares (defenestration) ? Technicolor by Bava ?
He's trying Lynch's tricks, from Lost Highway and Mullholand Drive, but he's getting zilch.
acting level is subzero...Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, gorgeously photographed but used as cardboard models.
th letragic pacing goes lethal, the film comes alive on the neon visuals only when there's music.
So, the only redeeeming quality of the film is the score by Pino Donnagio, an eerie, elegiac beautiful (Herrmannesque, there is some Vertigo in it) score that stands out and it's one of his best, together with the ones for De Palma. It would be ironic if Donaggio reworkes some of his rejected score for De Palma's Snake Eyes (1999).
The disco synth pop is not by Donnagio but by Refn's collabotaror Julian Winding (Dolce mio).
Chuck Russell, the cult director of The Blob, A nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Mask and Ahnuld's Eraser, or if you will The Rock's The Scopion King is gone at 74.
He worked his way up in the LA film industry, from assistant directing and production managing independent films while writing screenplays (Dreamscape). Russell made his directorial debut in 1987 with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which relaunched the franchise.
Sleeping Dogs is Sam Neill's 1st leading part and the first New Zeeland film (!), even though it was directed by an Australian, Roger Donaldson. Both went to Hollywood and had great careers-Donaldson still works. These might be reasons why this film is known today, and it shalll get even more attention because it's maybe more relevant today than it was 39 years ago. It was a huge hit in new Zeeland ehen it came out, thier first film shot on 35 mm. Donaldson also produced and edited, and Ian Mune who plays Bullen also co-wrote it. It's based on the book, Smith's Dream by Karl Stead, a dystopian thriller that mixes 1984 with a sort of First Blood like man on the run.
The finale improves the film much, it has a slow development, weird pace, sheer brutality and violence, constructed not like a regular action drama, with that weird style of all Australian New Wave films.
Sam Neill is great a Smith, a cluless man that just wants to be left alone and it's mistaken for a guerilla leader.
Warren Oates shows up for a brief subplot, playing the American soldier, it his classic Warren Oates way.
The Boys from Brazil was first a book by Ira Levin (The Stepford Wives, Rosemary's Baby), published in 1976. Great page-turner thriller, very risque, mixing real characters with preposterous fiction !
1978, ITC-producer Sir Lew Grade makes the movie adaptation.
The great Franklin J. Schaffner directs. And he gets an 11 Mill. $ budget and a Grade (sic) A cast.
Gregory Peck is Joseph Mengele, playing totally against type, his only Villain in his filmography. His take on Mengele is fierce, mean spirited and dead serious. He man is evil, the Doctor is mad. But Peck plays it straight and dresses sharply, in white suits, with a stilleto moustache. It's definitely one of the top performances of his amazing career.
Peck said afterwards, "I felt, Laurence Olivier felt, friends of mine like Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon felt, that I was good in this part. Some critics seem unwilling to accept actors when they break what they think is the mold or the image.”
A frail Laurence Olivier (who just had his kidney stones removed!) is Ezra Liberman, the nazi hunter modelled after Simon Wiesenthal. Olivier's physicality helps him tremendously fot the part, you can feel his pain and suffering. Both Peck and Olivier deliver really copious accents. Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for best actor, one of the film's three Oscar nods (editing and music too).
James Mason supports as colonel Seibert, as do a bunch of great actors known from war and spy films,
Walter Gottel (general Gogol in the Moore Bond films), Wolfgang Preiss, Michael Gough, Bruno Ganz, Denholm Elliott, most interesting is young Steve Guttenberg playing a Jewish young journalist who discovers the Praguayan Nazi plot. Lily Palmer, Uta Hagen and Anne Meara have small but important parts and the young boy, Jeremy Black as the uncanny blue-eyed adolescent with multiple incarnations.
The plot itself it's so far out, it's great. And it's played so serious and grave, also it's very avant garde re Cloning, the Macguffin of the film.
Jerry Goldsmith delivers another great score for Schaffner, they colllaborated on seven films. This one is based half on an Austrian waltz, half on Martial menacing music.
Cinematography in 1.85.1 by Henri Decae, legendary & over versatile French DOP (Bob le flammbeur, Les 400 coups, Le Clan des siciliens, Le Cercle Rouge, Day for Night, Le Professionel), in one of the few English language films he ever did (together with The Light at the Edge of the World, Bobby Deerfield, Two People, Operation Daybreak, The Island and Exposed).
Locations are Brazil, Paraguay, London, Austria (Vienna), Germany, Sweden and the US. The production went to Portugal instead and the principal unit never set foot in the USA.
The opening is great, mysterious, after the majestic music turns into menacing sounds, and the opening credits are on black, there is no dialogue for the first 16 minutes.
I must've seen this film every decade of my life, 1st time in 1981-82 on Communist Romanian television when I was in the 6th or &th grade, impromptu and incognito, on a Sunday night, presented as "film artistic", on the the QT. We were so impressed the next day in school, the ones who saw it, by a sheer mistake, as the film was totally smuggled that night, one of those -push it in films-mainly when comrade Ceausescu was visiting abroad. Thanks again whoever put that on that night. A few years later, in high school I got upon the book, in French ! Started to clumsily translate it, I think I got done the 1st chapter, then of course gave up. The book might've been transalted in Romanian after 1990, I don't know.
One big find was the ITC DVD I got in the early 2000's, wasn't a great copy but still...And last time I watched it in 2020, in the pandemic, catching up with Schaffner's Lionheart and Sphynx.
There were many different versions, the film was cut over 20 minutes for TV from the original 2h05 running time and many cuts didn't have the original ending with Jeremy Black in the photo dark room, which adds value to the concept. It also empathies the role of the braclet of animal claws that Mengele brought with him from Brazil, a small detail and metaphor addes to the subtext.
Now they are reamaking the book (and film) into a 5 episodes miniseries for Netflix that will probably stream next year. Peter Morgan is the showrunenr and Jeremy Strong is the nazi hunter. August Diehl plays Mengele but it shall be no longer Mengele, they renamed him, after his exceptional turn of the charcter in thw recent The Dissapaerence of Joseph Mengele, in which the Ira Levin novel and the film are mentioned !
4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !
Maligned on his opening time, criticised and satirised as the "nazi revival" genre was tiring (The Odessa Filre, Marathon Man, later on The Formula) the film stands tall the test of time, anchored in the two key performances, the clash between two old men, obsessed, a lot of psychology that was brought by Peck and Olivier, happy to work together for one time only, the markings of the a great director, the music and atmosphere.
****
Best review I found about the making of and the motivations of Scahaffner, Peck taking part in it, the choice of the filming format and locations here.
The first time I saw Fargowas on VHS at Nae Caranfil's home. It was a memorable evening for all of us who were there. Some time had already passed since the premiere, the film had become famous (we're talking about the pre-download era, when films were still hard to get hold of), we were all devoted Coen Brothers fans, and we passionately debated the story and the mise-en-scène in a way that nowadays only happens in the excitement surrounding premieres or film festivals.
Oddly enough, Fargo was never released theatrically in Romania, so the TIFF.25 screening was a royal treat, giving you the chance to see it the way it should be seen.
Its premiere was at Cannes, in the Official Competition, where Joel Coen won the Best Director Award. Then came the Oscars (2 awards from 7 nominations). It was the Coens' Academy Award (everyone knows they direct together, although Ethan is officially credited as producer), the Best Picture of the year, and Frances McDormand's first Oscar (Best Actress—she has three now!). Who had ever seen a pregnant police heroine wearing a Siberian-style earflap hat?
Fargo- thirty years later: an absolute cult film and an ultra-influential one (#185 on the IMDb Top 250). Its biggest admirer: Noah Hawley, who in 2014 created the TV seriesFargo, whose first season is directly connected to the original while also retelling it. Five seasons inspired by the Fargo universe have been produced—an anthology unlike anything television had ever seen.
The poster is brilliant, embroided on a hoop, with the words "A homespun murder story" stitched in red. The title comes from the town of Fargo, North Dakota, on the border with Minnesota, where the events are supposed to take place, marketed as a true story—but of course that's another Coen Brothers gimmick, and everything is invented. It's winter, there's a blizzard, there's snow, and the South Dakota/Minnesota accents are absolutely wonderful. All the characters have Nordic names, just like the origins of the area's inhabitants (Gustafson, Gunderson, Lundegaard). William H. Macy is a sad and utterly pathetic figure, the car salesman who sets an absurd domino effect in motion.
Two of the Coens' longtime collaborators make a major contribution to this unique universe. Roger Deakins' cinematography condenses this immense white landscape, while Carter Burwell's score adds a sense of space and drama; it was later used as the theme for the television series.
But without the Steve Buscemi/Peter Stormare tandem, the film would be in vain...
"I'm going crazy down there at the lake." Ja.
Alin Ludu Dumbravă
This article was published in Aperitiff | June 12, 2026
Prima oară am
văzut Fargo pe casetă video la Nae Caranfil acasă, a fost o seară-eveniment
pentru noi toți cei prezenți. Trecuse deja ceva timp de la premieră, filmul era
celebru (vorbim de pre era download, cînd încă era greu să ai acces la filme),
eram cu toții fani dedicații ai fraților Coen, am dezbătut aprins povestea și
mizanscena așa cum azi nu mai faci decît în febra unor premiere sau
festivaluri.
În mod ciudat Fargo
n-a rulat niciodată la noi în cinema, deci proiecția de la TIFF.25 a fost un
Regal 😊 și a fost prilejul să-l vedeți așa cum trebuie.
Premiera a fost
la Cannes, în Competiția Oficială, unde Joel Coen a primit premiul pentru cel
mai bun regizor. Au urmat Oscarurile (2 premii din 7 nominalizări). A fost și
Oscarul Coen-ilor (se știe că ei regizează împreună, desi Ethan e trecut ca
producător), cel mai bun film al anului, și primul premiu Oscar pentru Frances
McDormand (cea mai bună actriță, acum are trei!), cine a mai văzut o eroină
polițistă gravidă cu căciulă cu urechiușe tip siberian?
Fargo după treizeci de ani: un film-cult
absolut și ultra influent (locul # 185 în topul 250 IMDb). Cel mai mare fan: Noah
Hawley, care în 2014 a creat serialul Fargo, al cărui prim sezon are legătură
directă cu originalul, dar este și e o repovestire. S-au produs 5 sezoane
inspirate de Universul Fargo, o antologie cum nu s-a mai văzut în TV.
Afișul/posterul e
genial, țesut pe gherghef, pe care scrie cusut cu roșu, ”A homespun murder
story”. Titlul vine de la orășelul Fargo din Dakota de nord/ la graniță cu Minnesota,acolo
unde se întîmplă evenimentele, marketate ca o poveste adevărată, dar normal, e
un gimmick al fraților Coen, și totul este inventat. E iarnă, e viscol, e
zăpadă și accentele de South Dakota/Minnesota sunt absolut superbe. Toate
personajele au nume nordice, la fel ca originea locuitorilor zonei (Gustafson,
Gunderson, Lundegaard). William H. Macy este o figură tristă și absolut
patetică, vînzătorul de mașini care pune în mișcare un absurd domino.
Doi colaboratori
fideli ai Coen-ilor contribuie major la acest univers unic. Imaginea lui Roger
Deakins condensează această imensitate albă, și muzica lui Carter Burwell
adăugă spațialitate, dramatism, ea a fost folosită și ca temă a serialului
ulterior.
Dar filmul fără
tandemul Steve Buscemi/ Peter Stormere e pustiu…”I’m going crazy down there
at the lake”. Ja.
Maiorul si moartea (The Major and Death, 1967) is a forgotten gem, and a one of a kind / one-off UFO Romanian thiller written by the great Ion Baiesu (Balanta/The Oak), based on his eponymous 1965 short story. It was made later on into a radio play with Enil Hossu as the major.
Directed by the Documentarian Alexandru Boiangiu in his feature film debut, it's a Black and white black and bleak comedy, film noir -policier, shot by maestro DOP Nicu Stan (Rascoala, Diminetile unui baiat cuminte -see references below, Toate Pinzele sus !). The film made a BO of 1.352.078 in Romanian cinemas in 1967.
It is also Gheorghe Dinica's 1st major leading part. (as the major, sic!) Great part too.
The other jewel of the cast is veteran theatre actor Ion Stanescu as retired safe cracker Solomonica, his only part on the big screen except a bit in O noapte furtunoasa (1943).
Supporting: Vasilica Tastaman, Marin Moraru, Mircea Crisan, Jean Constantin, Stefan Mihailescu-Braila (artist emerit;), Peter Paulhoffer, Constantin Rautchi, Ion Anghel, Florin Scarlatescu, Draga Olteanu (before she was Matei ;) and a very young Carmen Galin in her second film part after Diminetile unui baiat cuminte (see last paragraph).
Atmospheric music by Mircea Istrate (Strainul, Haiducii series), played by the Symphonic Cinema Orchestra (Orchestra simfonica a cinematografie- oh, what dayz, when musicians were employed just to score Romanian films...) and conducted by Silviu Panțiru and a cool and absolutely weird song, sung onscreen by Marina Voica, Criminal Tango, by P. Trombetta (actually Kriminal Tango by Piero Trombetta, originally released in 1959 and the title song of a German film of 1960). Another song sang by Voica, is an uncanyAve Maria Lola in bossanova rhythm (min. 66 in the film, just before Crimanl Tango -a request ;). Maria Voica, a superstar of Romanian Pop music of the Communist age, might be the only one left alive from this film. She is 89 now.
Another gem are the opening credits, Saul Bass 60's funky style. Very cool, have no idea who did them, it's not credited (sic).
They include a caption of the Militia consultant (MAI/Ministerul Afecerilor Interne) of the film, as all films of the time needed one. This one is a Lt. Col. (Lieutenat Colonel) called Alexandru Manuși, meaning Gloves !
The film starts surreally with a pre-credits scene in which an Insurance salesman trying to sell a Life policy to the Major. I won't spoil more about the plot, suffice to say it deals with a hidden treasure, a murder and surreal threats signed Death !
There's a scene where Major Tache plays Checkers with ¬Death¬, it can be interpreted as a Pun to Bergman's chess with death in The Seventh Seal. Or not, one can only fabulise ;)
I's say it's sort of Romanian Ladykillers maybe ? Style-wise and humour. It's a bit of a satire of the system too. Scenes in achurch, at a Religious procession, not likely to be seen in the Regime directory.
Great poster above ! Love also this Czech poster with a nod to Vertigo, saying Major & DEATH / Major A Smrt !
Napinave meaning suspensful !!
It seems M & M travelled a bit in the Socialist haven cinema distribution .)
Deutsche version:
The film can be seen in its entirety in multiple youtube versions, mostly taken from a TVR2HD broadcast.
As a fun note, a 'sopirla' / polticial subversive innunedo, one of the characters (Peter Paulhoffer, a German Romanian actor, nicknamed 'the Romanian Paul Newman', that left for BDR- West Germany-later in the '70's), is reading a newspaper in Gara de Nord/ Bucharest railway station. The paper says: The modern profile of a Director's calification !!! On the left is seen a review of another Romanian film from that year: Diminetile unui baiat cuminte/The mornings of a nice boy, by Andrei Blaier, a sort of New Wave manifesto, not a very socialist film as intended to be. The film can be found on youtube from Cinepub.ro here. I am not sure the newspaper existed or if it waas made up for the film as an inside joke.
Premiered at Venice film Festival, in Competition and was awared in many International Film fests, including Socchi, but neve released in its own country, Russia.
see it and you'll get why !!!
The film is written and directed by Natalya Merkulova and Alexey Chupov.
Volkonovov is played brilliantly by Yura Borisov who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar in Sean Baker's Anora and was the lead in Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes entry “Petrov’s Flu.” He is an NKVD captain in Stalin's USSR of 1938, when the Great Purge emerged. Timofey Tribuntsev is also great as his pursuer and former boss, major Golovnya.
The title is soehow ironic, don't expect a traditional escape. The film has surreal qualities, non-linear narrative, great colors, widescreeen cinematography (2.35.1), great production design (shot in St. Petersburg), and black humor galore. It's a sort of thriller, dark comedy, historical drama, fable, and it shows a side of Russia's history at its most darkest (that is, until Today :( Ok, not only that but all Totalitarian Poli cde Ste.
The musical theme, recurrent and also sometimes ironical, is the legendary Soviet song Polyushko-pole (Song of the Pains), see the interpretation by the avant-garde St. Petersburg band Shortparis below:
4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!!
-a bit too long and confusing, or switches hard to follow...
What can I say? I expected more. But it's ok. Just that it's old news, the disclosure has been made my Spielberg in 1977 and in 1982 (E.T. phoning home ;).
This is really a Close Encounters of the Third Kind 'cos it's beeen done now the third time.
I woun't count the War of the Worlds which I hateted masivelly when it came out, called it War of the Tripods.
My most problematic aspect is the casting. Absolute no charisma between the leads, boyfriend-girlfriend, could be way better with another actors, Josh O'Connor and Emily Blunt didn't convince me one bit. What about the old Richard Dryfuss type, even the claasical Tom Hanks Spielbergian James Stewart type? The supporting bit was clockwork, Colin Firth and Colman Domingo all serious handling the disbelief.
Then, the duration. 2h25 could've been way shorter. Scenes repeat, chases repeat, peril repeat, mind scanning repeat, rinse, spit, repeat. like it's a TV series.
Also the deja-vu from the telekinesis/paranormal age of late 70's, 80's, from Fury, to Scanners, via Firestarter. Just add aliens, but it's the same chase, same plot gimmicks.
But John Williams did a serios job scoring it, coming out of retirement again for his buddy Spielberg, At 94 he still rocks !!!
The camera work, I have a problem with the design, moving in every shot, some cool tracking shots, 180 degrees to 360. Colors too,bleak, winterish.
Max Cady is Back ! And this time he is Javier Bardem with a goat-e and Udo Kier type of Blue Eyes
The new Cape Fear is here...on Apple Tv + (premiered June 5th)
Episodes 1 and 2 were cool and atmospheric, but will it have enough breath to do Ten ?
we'll see...
very little from the original book John D. MacDonald's The Executioners (1957) stays on.
Also not much of the 1962 J. Lee Thompson original adaptation as Cape Fear in glorious Black and White.
cool title lettering, cool ideas from the Scorsese 1991 remake and homage (the shots on the negative, camera moves), and most of all the music stays the same. Bernard Herrmann's score, now redone by Jeff Russo.
Exec prod by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and showrunner Nick Antosca.
***
1st episode, 'Fingers and Toes' directed by Norwegian Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, Passngers).
Ep. 2 'Why Would I Want to Hurt You?' directed by S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones, Madame Web), features a cameo by screenwiter Wesley Strick (who wrote the 1991 remake of CF).
Ep. no. 3 on June 12th: Phantom Sensations
already feeling the nausea
Ep. 4 Pierced. June 19th.
some lgbtq happens before the two daughters.
ep.5 Faith -June 26.
loss of breath, mambojambo and a sinister Juliette Lewis.
Ep. 6 Possum -July 3rd.
that's when I feel like quiting, don't really wanna see how they're gonna mangle this beyond belief.
Ep. 7: Mongrel -July 10th
by episode seven it's becoming such a grand guignol caricature with storytelling of a bad telenovela, I switched it of. They take a road trip and ouch, and the soundtracks goes from BOC's Don't Fear the Reaper to Alice Cooper's Eighteen.
S1.E8 ∙ Los tiempos de Dios son Perfectos -July 17.
Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, therapists. Group therapy or one-on-one. Mentalist, alienist, psychoanalyst, shrink.
Speaking of the original HBO series In Treatment, which itself comes from the Israeli BeTipul, I thought of no better way to wrap up this series of rankings, especially since I had my share of shrinks in my time. :-)
The number one “psychiatric” film would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman), but the psychiatrist there is merely window dressing; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the one who embodies the oppressive system. And then there’s virtually any Woody Allen film, especially the Gene Wilder episode from *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), featuring the doctor who falls in love with Daisy the sheep, which I previously discussed in my ranking of performances in Woody Allen films.
K-PAX (2001, Iain Softley), in which Jeff Bridges plays Dr. Mark Powell, treating an alien—or merely a psychotic patient? (Kevin Spacey)—and the Argentine counterpart Hombre mirando al sudeste (1986, Eliseo Subiela), are really about the patients, much like Nash (Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind (2001, Ron Howard).
There’s also Dr. Marc Chabot (Yves Montand) in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970, Vincente Minnelli), who hypnotizes Barbra Streisand and discovers she has lived previous lives. Barbra herself tried being a doctor in The Prince of Tides (1991), attempting to cure Nick Nolte.
But my personal favorite is Klaus Kinski as Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot in Buddy Buddy (1981), Billy Wilder’s remake (and final film) of L’Emmerdeur (1973, Édouard Molinaro), unfortunately only a supporting role, complete with a fondness for nudist therapy.
And then there’s Dr. Elliot (Michael Caine) from Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), whom I would call the “cross-dressing” variation.
Still, I decided to give the place to the illustrious Dr. Caligari. To paraphrase Siegfried Kracauer’s From Caligari to Hitler, this ranking goes from Caligari to Freud...
10. Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Variation: creepy
Dr. Caligari runs an asylum and uses the somnambulist Cesare for various dirty jobs. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether and its idea that the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Its descendants include Asylum (1972, Roy Ward Baker), as well as the opening and cover art of In the Mouth of Madness (1995, John Carpenter).
Successors: Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, Dr. M, the mega-villains of the James Bond franchise beginning with Dr. No, etc.
Caligari controls Cesare, in a scene set to music by Lacrimosa.
(The full film can be found on YouTube.)
9. Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) in Spellbound (1945, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
Variation: mysterious
A thriller populated by psychiatrists, fascinated with psychoanalysis—a fairly new concept in Hollywood at the time—partly inspired by producer David O. Selznick’s own experiences in therapy.
Psychiatrist Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) treats the amnesiac John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), accused of murder.
Based on the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding, the pseudonym of John Palmer and Hilary St. George Sanders, screenplay by Ben Hecht.
Memorable above all for its dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí, and for a recurring skiing sequence.
Successor:Gothika (2003, Mathieu Kassovitz), with Halle Berry as an amnesiac psychiatrist committed to an asylum for a murder she cannot remember committing.
Trailer! (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
8. Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in Anger Management (2003, directed by Peter Segal)
Variation: out-of-control!
Jack Nicholson, usually the patient :-) (with the exception of “The Specialist” in the musical Tommy (1975), Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who), plays an anger-management therapist—or whatever the proper term may be; the closest translation I found was “treatment for controlling one’s temper”—in a mediocre film that deserved a much better director.
A vehicle for Adam Sandler, who, when placed face to face with Jack’s explosive personality, is completely eclipsed.
Best scene: Adam, backed up by Jack, singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story on the bridge!
7. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in the Halloween series
Created by John Carpenter for the landmark 1978 film.
The name was borrowed from Psycho, from the character played by John Gavin, Sam Loomis.
Dr. Loomis is Michael Myers’ nemesis. He treated him at the institution from which Myers escaped. He is also the commentator, the voice of reason, and the only character besides Michael Myers himself to appear throughout the series: five films, including Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, released shortly before Pleasence’s death in 1995.
Played by Malcolm McDowell in Rob Zombie’s remake.
On the nature of evil!
6. Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) in Analyze This (1999, directed by Harold Ramis)
Variation: sleeps with the fishes!
Mob boss Vitti (Robert De Niro) has problems and decides to see a psychiatrist. But nobody must find out. Otherwise Vitti might end up sleeping with the fishes too, Luca Brasi style.
Nemesis: Chazz Palminteri, to whom the meaning of the word “closure” has to be explained.
The dramatic TV version:The Sopranos, released the very same year. Which came first? Only they know who inspired whom, but Analyze This is the parody version, a kind of sitcom blown up to feature-film proportions.
Sequel:Analyze That (2002), also directed by Harold Ramis.
Explaining the Oedipus complex! “Fuckin’ Greeks!”
5. Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) in Color of Night (1994, directed by Richard Rush)
Variation: it’s so bad, it’s good!
The most improbable psychiatrist ever.
Color-blind, traumatized by the color red, trapped in a Hitchcockian thriller inspired in part by Vertigo. Someone starts killing off his patients.
The patient roster is practically a compendium of cult actors: Lance Henriksen, Brad Dourif, Lesley Ann Warren, Kevin J. O'Connor.
Steamy sex scenes with the then-young Jane March (The Lover).
Bruce also played a psychiatrist, Dr. Crowe, in The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan), but I left him off the list for objective reasons: he belongs to the spirit world. :-)
A fan-made video clip for the title song (super-cheesy), performed by Lauren Christy!
4. Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) in Equus (1977, directed by Sidney Lumet)
Variation: equestrian
A drama written by Peter Shaffer, adapted from his own play, in which Harry Potter himself (a.k.a. Daniel Radcliffe) is currently appearing nude on Broadway.
Burton delivers a magnificent performance as a doctor determined to cure an extremely disturbed young man obsessed with horses (Peter Firth).
Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and winner of two Golden Globes, for Best Dramatic Actor (Burton) and Best Supporting Actor (Firth).
In the original Broadway production (1974–75), Anthony Hopkins played Dysart.
Trailer!
3. Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) in What About Bob? (1991, directed by Frank Oz)
Variation: funny
Bill Murray is Bob, the patient who relentlessly torments Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss).
The Romanian title used on television (since it never received a theatrical release) was The Psychiatrist on Vacation.
Similar: the Burt Reynolds / Dom DeLuise pairing in The End (1978, directed by Burt Reynolds).
The “Gimme Gimme, I Need I Need...” scene. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
2. Col. Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach) in The Ninth Configuration (1980, directed by William Peter Blatty)
Variation: red herrings!
Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane (The Exorcist).
How Do You Fight A War Called Madness?
A new commander arrives at a castle where he applies shock therapy to former soldiers suffering from mental illness.
An entirely male cast: Jason Miller, Stuart Wilson, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell.
A film about post-war trauma—in this case Vietnam—one of the greatest unknown films ever made, although it enjoys a loyal cult following. Now available in its longer director’s cut.
Packed with references to The Exorcist, also written and produced by Blatty.
Filmed in Hungary. The castle is Burg Eltz in Germany.
Successor:Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese).
Part One: the opening sequence set to “St. Antone” by Denny Brooks. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
1. Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976, directed by Herbert Ross)
Variation: Freudian :-)
The film in which Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) treats Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson), brought to him by Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) for cocaine addiction—hence the film’s title.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer.
Laurence Olivier plays Professor Moriarty and Vanessa Redgrave is the romantic interest, Lola Deveraux.
A special, one-of-a-kind film that clearly influenced Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Predecessor: Freud had appeared on screen before, from John Huston’s 1962 biopic Freud, starring Montgomery Clift, to the less likely incarnation played by Jamie Elman (his co-star from California Dreaming!) in the film where Armand Assante portrays Nietzsche, When Nietzsche Wept (2007, Pinchas Perry).
The complete version of Kill Bill (s), aka The Whole Bloody Affair, is in Selected Romanian cinemas, for a Very Limited period of time ! With an Intermission too, just overlong, who needs 15 mins?? and in Glorious Shawscope !!!
Let's be Crystal Clear on this, Kill Bill was supposed to be just one film, not two, it was separated due to duration by the infamous youknowho producer and distributor. Tarantino was a bit upset but he conformed. Then he did his own cut. Now he even extended it. Results: a new film, better than any other version, superior in storytelling, rhythm, timing and flow.
IMO don't stay after the overlong credits, you'll get a boneheadish animation entitled The LOST CHAPTER which makes no sesne and it;s actually a Tie-in of a video game. Go home with the
Resume:
Kill Bill vol. 1 -2023 -1h51 = 69 % metascore nr 153 top imdb
Kill Bill vol. 2 -2004 -2h17- metascore: 83%, not in top imdb
Soundtrack: 'Music a silouthette at doom' by Morricone -from Un dollaro a testa Sunny road to Salina -Christophe 1970 The Chase -Alan Reeves About Here with samples from Rod Argent Zombies' "She's Not There" Goodnight Moon-Shivaree
The whole soundtrack here: https://download-soundtracks.com/movie_soundtracks/kill-bill-whole-bloody-affair-soundtrack/
Credits:
2004 -2025 restored, Visiona Romantica
Now the differences (atken from various sources on the net):
The first change you'll notice is an extra 10 minute animated sequence that shows O-Ren Ishii getting revenge on the man that killed her parents. It's animated beautifully and gives O-Ren's character even more depth than she already had. Secondly you'll notice that the legendary fight scene at the House of Blue Leaves is now in full color. With this scene in full color you get to really see the carnage that The Bride creates. You see guys heads being chopped off and geysers of red blood bursting from their neck. You see limbs chopped off with bursts of red blood. You fully see the red blood soaked floor of the building and the red bloody water of the pond. It makes the scene so much more impactful. The third change you see, albeit a minor one, is you actually see how The Bride interrogates Sofia for information. Which of course includes her asking her questions and in turn chopping her arm off for not answering. But the last change and by far most important is at the end of Volume 1, Bill makes no mention of The Brides child still being alive. That small change not only improves Volume 1 but drastically improves Volume 2. Originally you go into Volume 2 technically ahead of The Bride as you know about her kid and she doesn't. But that small change puts us on equal footing with The Bride. It makes the scene of her coming through the door to her child not just shocking and impactful to her but to us, the audience. +++
The old Klingon proverb "Revenge is a dish best served cold." shown at the beginning of the standard theatrical version of Kill Bill Vol. 1 is not present. A dedication to filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku is in its place, as was also the case in the opening of the Japanese theatrical release of Kill Bill Vol. 1. +++
While the 2004 Cannes cut of this film has had various special screenings throughout the past two decades, Lionsgate's 2025 theatrical release is the first time this unified version of Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) has become accessible to a wider audience.
There may have been minor alterations made from the Cannes cut to Lionsgate's cut, but here are some notable differences that separate THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR from VOLUME 1 and VOLUME 2.Modern Lionsgate logo plays before VOLUME 1's original Miramax logo. [*2025 only] The "Kill Bill" title card during the opening credits contains the subtitle "The Whole Bloody Affair". The uncensored Japanese version of VOLUME 1 is used for the first five chapters. In Chapter 3, an additional 7.5 minutes of content is added to VOLUME 1's anime sequence in which a 13-year-old O-Ren attempts to kill Pretty Riki in an elevator. At the end of Chapter 5, every shot after the Bride's final exchange with Sofie from VOLUME 1 is omitted (from airplane to end credits). Between Chapters 5 and 6, a static "INTERMISSION" title card (white text, black background) stays on screen for 15 minutes. "Lonely Shepard" plays over the first few minutes of the intermission with the remainder being silent. Everything from the opening of VOLUME 2 that precedes Chapter 6 is omitted (from Miramax logo to "Vol. 2" title card). In Chapter 6, the Bride's opening narration at the Two Pines chapel from VOLUME 2 is omitted. Entire cast, crew and song list from VOLUME 1 is integrated into VOLUME 2's end credits. The uncensored version of Yuki's Revenge (2025) plays after the credits, front-loaded with an animated lobby jingle. [*2025 only]
9 out of 10 !!! 4 1/2 out of 5 !!!
Mega-trivia: In Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Beatrix Kiddo (The Bride) is buried alive in the grave of Paula Schultz. This is a famous Quentin Tarantino "Easter Egg" connecting the film to Django Unchained (2012), as Paula Schultz is believed to be the deceased wife of Dr. King Schultz. This video explains the connection between the grave of Paula Schultz in Kill Bill and Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained.
Remarkable debut by Charlie Polinger (w/d). It premiered in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Worthy of the DGA Award. Amazingly it was shot in Romania (by Abis studios, art director Vlad Vieru just won a Gopo for the Yellow Tie) !!! Great widescreen compositions. in 2.39 : 1. Also shot on film,35mm by Steven Breckon, another name to follow.
Joel Edgerton (also a producer) is the only adult name in the film, the rest is a bunch of kids, real talent. Everett Blunck as Ben is a stand-out. They won best actors in Sitges, also together with Kayo Martin.
Lord of the Flies in a summer waterpolo camp with shades of masculin Carrie. It's set in 2003, no clue why. It's gross sometimes like teenagers are, it's unpleasant and it feels real. Tough to direct all these kids, and as a first picture, kudos !
Also great, I mean GREAT sound design and a great score by Johan Lenox, reminiscent also of Pino Donnagio's cues.
Corsa Notturna(see, it's in Italian;) will give you goosebumps. It looks like it's Lenox' first real score too. Bravo !
Also Moby's song Feeling So Real will never feel the same again ! 4 real ;)
7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 ! Deserves even more but my empathy was with the filmmaking, not the characters.
I caught up with Damian McCarthy 1st feature film Caveat after seeeing Hokum in a cinema last week and Oddity in 2024.
Caveat in Latin means Warning/ Beware.
Creepy, claustrophobic, atmospheric very low key and extremly well done low budget debut feature shot in Cork, Ireland.
Loses some steam in the third act but it's paced at 1h30 so it's all good. It's basically for the viewer a one person drama and experiences and emotions -through Issac (Jonathan French's amnesic character).
The harness is a gimmick worthy of Edgar Allan Poe's stories.
The film's dialogue is minimal, and the sound design/ soundtrack is keeping the ternsion up, as with the camera movements and the set design of the creepy house with falling walls, the basement, floors creaking and those distant cries of the foxes...
***The toy rabbit featured in the film was acquired via eBay by McCarthy, who "always had an interest in wind-up toys". It was stripped of its fur and sent to costume and prop builder Lisa Zagone, who finalised its design.
3 1/2 out of 5 / 7 out of 10
Sight and Sound: The uncannily claustrophobic design of the setting matches the tightness of the irrationally unfolding narrative in this slice of ghostly surrealism, so beautifully styled that you can practically smell the mildew-stained walls.
maybe the best, most intense horror of the year yet.
To be seen on the big screen. It's widescreen - 2.39 : 1, -by Colm Hogan, kudos! - but it's claustrophobic and the sound design is Great !!! And the music too-atmospheric, as a tool of building more sound !
From the director od Oddity and Caveat, Irishman Damian McCarthy, a name to follow...
McCarthy provides some genuine good scares
and gets a restrained performance from Adam Scott (Severance series), at his most serious and downbeat. His character is the obnoxious and depressed writer Ohm Bauman (reminiscences to Richard Bachman, The Shining -Kubrick's- and other Stephen King characters, Jack Torrance, Mort Rainey, George Stark included).
Hokum is psychological horror mixed with folk supernatural lore, but also a bit more,
Opening and ending bookends raise the quality of the film a lot.
Liked it better than Weapons and felt the kind of vibe Hereditary gave me back when I saw it in a cinema.
The Drama (loved the title) has Bergmanesque, Woody Allenesque-through his Bergman love), Nouvelle Vague vibes too- and i must confess I enjoyed it more than the whole Sentimental Value thing. Or overbloated Baumbach's Marriage Story, all due to Bergman's tropes (ther is even a poster for The Passion of Anna, which the writer/director showed his actors in preparation for the shoot). Don't foreget Borgli is a Swede too.
Liked the energy, the humor, the storytelling, the editing, Daniel Pemberton's score, the acting of the two leads-Robert Pattison and Zendaya in her best part yet- imo-they had chemistry.
Dram Scenario was ok, Sick of You was intense, looking forward for more Kristoffer Borgli.
Eagles of the Republic is a terrific political thriller by Tarik Saleh (third part of his Cairo trilogy), about Egypt's political and military machinations involving a film star (Fares Fares, the lead in all three Saleh films and a film star in his own right), caught in the middle of the manipulative crossfire.
Would've been worth more attention in the actual climate, premiered in Cannes last year in competition, and it was Sweden's entry for best foreign film -did not make the short list. Shades of early Costa-Gavras. Also of Das Leben der Anderen. Gave me goosebumps in parallel with what happened in communist Romania and all dictatorships alike.
Great score by Alexandre Desplat on his 1st collaboration with Saleh and great widescreen cinematography by Pierre Aïm (shot on 65 mm, 2.39.1). Pierre Aïm shot also the other two Saleh films in his Trilogy -The Nile Hilton Incident (2017, which I saw at TIFF) and Cairo Conspiracy, aka Boy From Heaven (2022, seen briefly on Romanian screens). Of course this film could not be shot in Egypt, so it is all dressed up in Turkey -great job by Saleh's production design Roger Rosenberg. The director is a very persona non grata in Egypt...
Fun fact: Saleh and Rosenberg shot the action thriller The Contractor (2022) in Bucharest for Berlin !!!
Now in Romanian cinemas -very limited-see it on the big screen !
Chuck Norris became legendary through the jokes about him, that he is invincible and imortal. He was Not. But gone now at 86, he was an inspiration to many, especially in the 80's Romania.
A Force of One, a man who knew Good Guys Wore Black and An Eye for an Eye he was a Lone Wolf Mc Quade -the inspiration for the later series Walker, Texas Ranger.
I first saw him in the cinema in Breaker ! Breaker !, translated as Orasul fantoma -Ghost town (1977), which I tremember cleartly they had a print in Black and white. Re-saw that on video later on. The battle with the broken bottle stayed vividly in my mind. He had no moustache at the time. Then on video fisrt films I saw was The Way of the Dragon, his first part in the 1972 Bruce Lee film (also directed by Lee), where he battles Lee in the Colosseum. The Colosseum would never be the same again. Oh, yes, for a bit, in Double Team where JCVD, a huge Norris and Lee fan, battles Mickey Rourke again in the Rome Arena.
He was a Karate champion and he became Steve Mc Queen's instructor and McQueen adviced him to go into acting.
Here's some Chuck Norris jokes:
Chuck Norris didn't die, God called him for backup!
Chuck actually died about 15 years ago. Death was too afraid to tell him
Chuck Norris went to Heaven to Judge God for his sins
RIP to the man who can put out a fire with a gallon of gasoline
The man who can beat the sun in a staring contest
The man whose diary is called the Guinness Book of World Records
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