Black Rabbit (2025)

Binged this over two nights Black Rabbit, 8 episodes, New York set and well presented into it. The name of the show -miniseries of a Season, no twofers, comes from a bar / restaurant / lounge next top Brooklyn Bridge, names Black Rabbit. Intrigued me that Jude Law sings, together with Albert Hammond Jr. from The Strokes, they are The Black Rabbits, the fictional band in the new netflix series.

There are two Black Rabbits songs, “Turned To Black” and “Outside People,” written and produced by Albert Hammond, Jr. 

Best part of Jason Bateman's career IMO, great teaming with Jude Law as the Friedken brothers, Jake and Vince. Jake own the Black Rabbit and wants to move to The Room, Vince is an addict and a f**k up on the run, turning like a bad penny into Jack's life, worst moment, worst time...

Great supporting cast, including Troy Kutsur (Oscar winner from CODA), Abbey Lee (Oz ex model, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Neon Demon, Old), Joe Ales as Jules Zablonski, Don Harvey, Dagmara Dominczyk, many more. 

Great tense score by Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans (series Tokyo Vice, Ozark and Speak No Evil). 

Links with Ozark and The Order, Justin Kurzel (directs last 2 eps), the writers, who wrote both, Zach Baylin and Kate Susman (also producer and showrunner). 

First 2 eps directed by Bateman and 2 more by Laura Linney, his partner in the Ozark series. Two more by Ben Semanoff (also from Ozark).  Lots of Ozarks and Jude Law's The Order that led to this greenlit by netflix. Location shooting and plenty of atmosphere, noirish nightmare descent, bravura performances, I guess it won't be much loved but I appreciated it. Will be on my list of 2025 Top series. 

Iron Maiden 2026 Tour

Run for Your Lives Tour continues...

including Romania, Bucharest, Arena Nationala, 28 mai 2026.

see here my last piece on Maiden's concert in May 2025 

It will be my 12th gig, as in Shakes' The Twelve Night ;)

1. kissstadion -2003 hungary, june 2
2. stuttgart, dance of death 2003, 25 oct
3. milano a matter of life and death, 2 dec 2006
4. cotroceni, aug. 2 somewhere back in time -2008
5. cluj final frontier 2010
6. pta constitutiei 2013
7. pta constitutiei 2016
8. hills of rock plovdiv,  2018
9. romexpo senjutzu 2023
10. run for your lives papp laszlo arena 28 mai 2025
11. beaufort 3 iulie 2025

+

plus bruce dickinson spoken word feb 2000 sala radio
plus dickinson cannes chemical wedding
plus dickenson sala pal 2022 deep p symphonic

communique:

𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐥 „𝐑𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒” 𝐥𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐭̦𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐚̆ 𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬̦𝐭𝐢, 𝐩𝐞 𝟐𝟖 𝐦𝐚𝐢 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔.

Iron Maiden își continuă turneul aniversar „Run For Your Lives”, dedicat celor 50 de ani de carieră, cu un setlist care reunește momente definitorii din istoria trupei și cu cel mai spectaculos show pus în scenă până acum.

Biletele pentru publicul general se pun în vânzare începând cu 27 septembrie, ora 11:00, la https://ironmaiden.emagic.ro/ și pe iaBilet.ro, iar pre-sale-ul pentru membrii fan clubului Iron Maiden începe pe 23 septembrie, la ora 11:00.

Clienții Emagic și iaBilet vor avea la dispoziție un presale cu acces exclusiv începând cu 24 septembrie, la ora 11:00, în baza unui cod pe care il vor primi pe email.

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES WORLD TOUR 2026

MAI
23 Atena, GRECIA – OAKA
26 Sofia, BULGARIA – Stadionul Vasil Levski
28 București, ROMÂNIA – Arena Națională
30 Bratislava, SLOVACIA – Národný Futbalový Štadión

IUNIE
02 Hanovra, GERMANIA – Heinz von Heiden Arena
10 Amsterdam, OLANDA – Ziggo Dome
17 Milano, ITALIA – San Siro Stadium
22 Paris, FRANȚA – Paris La Défense Arena
28 Lyon (Décines), FRANȚA – Groupama Stadium

IULIE
07 Lisabona, PORTUGALIA – Estádio da Luz
11 Knebworth, UK

RIP Robert Redford

Robert Redford gone where a River / rivers run through...

The Man was 89. Once ”The Golden Boy” of Hollywood...No liftings, just traces of life...

One of my top childhood heroes, he was an absolute star in that times "commie" Romania, together with Paul Newman, John Wayne and Burt Reynolds, the stars of those early 70's. RR, as a Rolls Royce of acting and old Hollywood grace and elegance. 

From early prats in Barefoot in the Park and The Chase, to stardom: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, to his activist years and Sundance, to the last parts in All is Lost (one of my favourite RR performances), The Old Man and the Gun and last in that Marvel film (2019)...

Never won an Oscar as an actor, but as a director, in 1980 for Ordinary People. That film is now quite forgotten, but at the time it helped build an Indie genre later on. A raw model for Brad Pitt and tons of others he helped more in the capacity of director, producer and festival founder (Sundance). Even though he directed 9 feature films he will be remembered more as a Classic Movie Star. 

Downhill Racer, The Candidate, The Hot Rock, The Great Waldo Pepper, The Great Gatsby, The Electric Horseman, Jeremiah Johnson, Brubaker, The Natural.

Liked him in lesser films like Sneakers, Legal Eagles, Havana, The Last Castle, The Clearing. 

One of my favorite later parts parts of RR is Nathan Muir in Tony Scott's Spy Game (2001). His pairing with Brad Pitt as his mentor in CIA was a very touching one. 

He made serious topics like grief and political corruption resonate with the masses, in no small part because of his own star power. (The NY Times)

The Long Walk (2025)

"Walk or Die"

Francis Lawrence never struck me as an auteur director. The Long Walk is his closest to a a personal filmmaking effort.

Constantine was probably his best flick, the man directed tons and tons of music videos, a sh***y version of I Am Legend, Red Sparrow, four Hunger Games, those probably qualifying him for this film. 

Stephen King's novel The Long Walk was published in 1979 under the name Richard Bachman, same as The Running Man, Rage, etc. 

It is set in a dystopic America, as in Hunger Games or recently in Civil War, in which young men participate in a race, without stops, until one remains. Same principle as Turkey Shoot or The Running Man (which was remade this year).  You have to keep walking at 3mph, steadily. You get only three warnings, one erased per hour if you march on.

The camera moves and moves and moves all along with the protagonist. The whole film is in movement. Belgian cinematographer Jo Willems, who worked with Lawrence on his Hunger Games films and Red Sparrow shot the film anamorpically on 2.39.1. The whole thing was shot in Manitoa, Canada, for 20 mill. $. 

The ensemble young actors are convincing, it helps they are not known. They are all called by their numbers. Cooper Hoffman (#47 / Licorice Pizza), David Jonsson (#23, Alien: Romulus), Garrett Wareing (# 38/ God is a Bullet), Charlie Plummer (#5 / All the Money in the World). Mark Hammil does a career best villain as The Major. Judy Greer is the only woman in the cast, as Cooper Hoffman's mother. The racial aspect, white, black, white, white, Asian, Indian. Let's say that is not the "woke" or globalism problem, welll, no Mexicanos, hispanics. 

Problem is the language, they all swear non stop, I guess they said, oh, it's Rated R so we can swear all the time we want. But f**k every three words is gratuitous to say the least, and they all talk the same swearing game, the boys as well as the major.

Script by J.T. Mollner (Strange Darling), the lastest on a series of aborted adpatations, from George A. Romero to Frank Darabont. 

Pulsing and dramatic score by Jeremiah Fraites, end titles have a country/Americana song composed for the film by   Shaboozey & Stephen Wilson Jr.- Took a Walk (not on the soundtrack). A rendition of Oh My Darling Clementine is sung by the boys at Mile 260 !!!

Reminded me of the WW2 war films, Sidney Lumet's The Hill (1965) in particular. And as they were running, of the final run of Black Hawk Down. 

7 out of 10 / 3.5 out of 5 !!!

*would've been more but I'd cut 15 min from the 108 min. running time, it loses its rhythm and has repetitions, most of the 50 "walkers" are just extras (in King's original there were 100 participants). 

The premise is as absurd as it gets and you got to believe it, also the lenght of the march is beyond belief...