Back to the Beginning

 saw the streaming in France, unfortunately not resent in Birmingham live

but my friend Teddy Tudose was there and this is what he wrote:

https://sunetelive.ro/recenzie-black-sabbath-back-to-the-beginning-ozzy/

this legendary photo by Ross Halfin

https://x.com/BlackSabbath

The Surfer (2024)

 “Don’t live here, don’t surf here”.

Another Nic Cage for Acting president, method of madness award ;)

Australian-Irish The Surfer was Cages first official Cannes fest selection in 34 years (after 1990's Wild at Heart!).

Mandy was in Quinzaine. Also Dog Eat Dog. 

A cross of Wake in Fright with The Wicker Man (one of Cage's most insane films is the remake of the cult British film of 1973), it's a psychedelic drama, unfolding in the Australian surfing territory.

Great score by Francois Tetaz, all reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's sound. 

Written by Thomas Martin, who took a cue from the short story that based 1968's Burt Lancaster's The Swimmer. 

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan who debuted with an interesting curio back in 2019, Vivarium. 

But the most interesting thing in it is Julian Mc Mahon, recently passed away at 56 :( He's the main attraction in the film, as Scally, the macho guru of the beach, dressed all in Red.

Sight and Sound review here. 

8 out of 10 / 4 out of 5 

RIP Michael Madsen

Sad news just when I was to see Iron Maiden in Belfort, France. All the world was busted by the death of Diogo Jota , the footballer, at 28. And then I saw Michael Madsen died, at 67 (on July 3d 2025) !

Then next day I find out Julian McMahon died, he was56 and battling cancer...

I met Michel Madsen when he was shooting in Romania the infamous Uwe Boll bomb, BloodRayne in August 2004. He also shot here The Last Drop. I was at a day of shooting in Bragadiru palace, Madsen was bored to death and I should've taken him to Blues Cafe for a Jack but I got asked by my friend working on the picture Not to. Regretted still...

Of course I knew him from Reservoir Dogs and all the Tarantino fodder, he was the one who gave him most of his comebacks. He could've been a star leading man but his odd and wild habits pushed him to the B side of movies, he was in over 300 flicks. So much crappy stuff...With 5 children, it's hard to pay the bills, as he says. He was even in a James Bond movie, the crappiest Bond ever :(, Die Another Day, supporting CIA Falco !

(On the films he's proud of) Kill Bill, Species (1995), Free Willy (1993), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Six, that's it. That's not a low number. I'm just hard to please. I've made some crap but you've got to pay the bills.

I guess that was before the Kill Bill's & The Hateful Eight. And he got a small cameo as the sherriff in TV's Bounty Law in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

The biggest mistake of his carrer was that he made Wyatt Earp. This made him lose the part of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction !!! Wyatt Earp was a flop and it's a bad film, Travolta played Vega and it's still his best around. 

He was a poet and an outlaw (by Hollywood standards), a maverick. Rest in peace, Michael...

“We’re not mourning a public figure. We’re not mourning a myth — but flesh and blood and ferocious heart,” Madsen’s sister, Virginia Madsen, said. “Who stormed through life loud, brilliant, and half on fire. Who leaves us echoes—gruff, brilliant, unrepeatable—half legend, half lullaby.”

RIP Lalo Schifrin

waiting for this to happen for a while :(, I mean Lalo Schifrin was 93, he was retired for a while, after the The Hidden Dove (2018) his last score, not a notable one. He was one of the last great ones, only John Williams survives that Golden generation (Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, etc).

The Argentinian Piano man is foremost responsible of the Mission; Impossible theme. Six times Oscar nominated, no win :(: Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Fox (1968), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979) and The Sting II (1983) and for the song “People Alone” from The Competition (1980). Honorary Oscar in 2018.

His signature is on Bullitt, Mannix, Enter the Dragon, The Eagle has Landed, Dirty Harry, and its sequels, from Magnum Force to The Enforcer, the three Rush Hour films. Close collaborator of Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood. Also did the music for Carlos Saura's Tango and many jazz collaboations, with Ray Charles in 1965's Norman Jewison's The Cincinnati Kid.

obit in the Hollywood Reporter 

The last film I saw with his music now (catch-up) is The Mean Season (1985), a thriller with Kurt Russell and Richard Jordan.