RIP Diane Keaton

 I was about to write RIP Annie Hall...

Diane Keaton was 79. Except Woody Allen's muse, friend (and girlfriend) and confidante (eight films together, from 1972's Play It Again Sam, ending with Manhattan Murder Mystery in 1993), she was Al Pacino's Michael Corleone's wife Kay in the three Godfathers, from fiancee to divorcee (also his girlfriend in real life), and exceptionally radicalist Louise Bryant in Warren Beatty's 1979's Reds. A very smart, intellectual. witty woman, personified best in Annie Hall (1977), character that used Keaton's manierisms, also her true family name is Hall, film that brought her an Oscar for best actress. She was also a feminist and an avant garde personality. And a great protograper (book Reservations). She never married and had two adopted kids. 

I think the last time I saw her was in Something's Gotta Give, the 2003 Nicholson weaker comedy...  She was in a lot of romantic comedies (Father of the Bride), heartfelt films  (The First Wives Club), dramas (Marvin's Room). But for me she will always be The Little Drummer Girl, in the excellent George Roy Hill film from 1984, based on the John le Carré book (not the 2018 series), whre she plays a wannabe groupie terrorist, ideologically brainwashed and used, in a film that is more actualt today than Woody Allen's NY fantasies or the politics of Reds.

She as also great in Richard Brooks’  audacious drama with a sex twist, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).

Diane Hall / Keaton was also a director, most famously for Be Unstrung Heroes (1995), she also directed Belinda Carlisle's hit video Heaven is a Place on Earth. She also produced Gus Van Sant's Elephant. She wrote memoirs thrice: “Then Again” (2011), “Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty” (2015) and “Brother and Sister” (2020).

 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI/ American Film Institute. 

Obit in Variety here. 

Play Dirty (2025)

`There are two kinds of people in this world, those who know who Shane Black is, and those who don't!. Those can dig ;) 

NALD 

Well Shane Black is back as a writer/director, this time on Amazon Prime & theirs MGM  100 mill. $ streaming extravaganza.

It's a Parker film named Play Dirty (not to be confused with the 1969 André De TothWW2 actioner, the title comes from Black's unfilmed script for Lethal Weapon 2, unseen til today -Black's most proud and gritty work, or so they say ;).

It's based on the Richard Stark (aka Donald E. Westlake) iconic novels started in the 60's. Not one novel but `novels`. I guess they're trying to build  a franchise but this won't happen I guess cos' the film is the weakest of Black's career as a director (and that includes the reshot troubled 2018's The Predator). 

Mark Wahlberg is Parker, an obnoxious choice. He can't handle the character dark charisma and dry wit, a dangerous man with a code of its own. Stark's Parker is an Anti Hero, Steve Mc Queen would have done him justice. Or Kris Kristofferson. Even today's Brad Pitt cos' Russell Crowe's too overweight...

Robert Downey Jr. was supposed to play him but he backed off, remaining on board as a producer. Not sure even about Downey but definetly a better choice, Parker's before were Lee Marvin (Point Blank-1967- the most menacing), Jim Brown (The Split-1978, the black one), Robert Duvall (The Outfit-1973, the most aloof), Peter Coyote (Slayground-1983, the most unlikely), Mel Gibson (Payback-1999, the  coolest, but meanest to his director-check out only the Director's Cut), Jason Statham (Parker-2013, bleh..). I'm not adding two these the two Frenchie freejazzin', Made in USA (Jean Luc Godard, 1966) and Mise à Sac (Alan Cavalier, 1967).

*** (Here's an article on all the Parker films, and none until 2013 used the name Parker !!!)

Back to Play Dirty. Would've been better to play it cool tho. The film itself is a self indulgent mess, combo of action scenes, comedy and VFX gone awry.

Too many characters, too much useless plot, not a lot of chemistry between the actors. Rapper LaKeith Stanfield shines as Grofield, Stark's character that has his own novels. Would've liked more of the Thomas Jane character, and someone else for Tony Shaloub, the guy plays a caricature of the mob boss of  a ridiculous corny and cartoonish Outfit. Think a James Coburn, even in Hudson Hawk or  Kris Kristofferson (he was the boss of The Outfit in Payback, but not in the Director's Cut !!!).  Also for the Latin country (unanamed but it's Peru), some finer actors, plus Rosa Salazar as Zen is kinda unmemobrable and not at all a Femme Fatale type.

The running time (2h03) is overlong and the film loses steam in midstream.

+++The Plus:

Great score by Alan Silvestri, reminionscent of those he did for Predator and The Long Kiss Goodnight (based on Shane's script), jazzy and funk, dramatic and menacing where it needs to be. For me Silvestri's score is a great comeback to form. A bit of  007 Bond-sist swagger, Lalo Schifrin and The Taking of Pelham 123 by David Shire, the percussion points.

Also the opening credits are very cool, 60's like.

Production values-high -especially the first action scene at the racing track.

The cinematography (superb 2.39:) by legendary Phillipe Rousselot (he's 80 now!), a lot of shades, shadows, reflections, in a NYC shot this time in Sydney, Australia !!!! Rousselot and Black worked together before in 2026's The Nice Guys.

Some of the wisecracks work better than the plotholes and the action. Also there are many references to Black's scripts and films, from the Christmas setting (Duh !) Lethal Weapon (the fall from the rooftop), The Long Kiss Goodnight (the House of Gretchen Mol, the chase in the snow, the scene by the water), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, etc. Liked the Mark Cuban pun ;)

Shane Black's influences on this one are great films, from Bullit to Dirty Harry, Marathon Man to the obscure Hickey & Boggs (1972), you can check the interview here on Letterboxed. 

6 (out of 10) for fans of SB and Donald Westlake, otherwise a Fiver. 

2 1/2 to 3 out of 5.

Would've been way cooler 2 see it in a Cinema....

RIP Remo Girone

C'hiera una volta in Italy...just visited Atrani where Equalizer 3 (and Ripley) were shot and remembered that Tano Carridi was in it...aka il signore Remo Girone. Next morning I saw on the scroll on Italian Television that he died in Monte Carlo, where he lived. He was 76. The odds to be next to one of his and most iconic last filming places ? Locals we met remembered him with respect, amazed we know Tano so well. La Piovra is still Legend in bella Italia. And in Romania too. 

Girone was one of my favorite actors after seeing him in La Piovra series on Romanian Television back in 1992. We were students but we got together on Saturday nights to watch it and Girone as Tano Carridi was the most suave dark angel, a villain of cosmic (or should we say Hellish) proportions. With his perfect hairline, impeccable suits  and a quiet voice, he was always filmed in dark shadows, like the Devil incarnate. Later on I saw him in some films but somehow his third career act  came from Hollywood films: Live By Night, Ford vV. Ferrari where he played Enzo Ferrari, and Equalizer 3, as a good doctor helping Denzel. 

`Il caricato e arrivato a Praga`.

One Battle After Another (2025)

"Snap Crackle Pop"

French 75 resurges for one last call...Do you remeber the code ? "What time is it?" / It's Time for REVOlution (again ?)

One Battle After Another is Paul Thomas Anderson's biggest film to date (you dpon't wanna know the budget, out of which a quarter is Leo's salary..). Most expected and already lauded as film of the year. Sean Penn is in for an Oscar nod surely-best supposting. Di Caprio does a OUIH bit imo. He's like Rick Dalton playing the fried brains revolutionary recluse Bob Ferguson aka Ghetto" Pat. Benicio Del Toro is also superfunny as the Sensei, shades of him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...but Sean Penn's performance as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw is surreal. One for the books !

Chase Infiniti's big screen debut as Bob and Perfidia's daughter Willa is intense. Special mention to Eric Schweig as Avanti. 

Plus the Christmas Adventurers Club, man, kudos for this one off ;)

I'd call this No Country For Any One...

It's a relentless ride, shot beautifully on 35 mm film in VistaVision (second film in this format in this century, after The Brutlalist), by Michael Bauman (his second film with PTA after Licorice Pizza), his first feature credit ! 

The film should be read through his soundtrack -I mean the overall score, again by Jonny Greenwood, his faithfull composer, this time a psychotronic overpulsating paroxistic one. I expect his Oscar next March.

The soundtrack includes great songs, from Steely Dan (Dirty Work), to Jackson Five (Ready Or Not Here I Come), Tom Petty's American Girl on the end credits (you will know why, "she was raised with Promises"), Ella Fitzgerald and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, thge classic and still subversive Gil Scott-Heron proto-rap from 1970, which plays a role also in the plot. 

Thomas Pynchon's book Vineland (1990) was the inspiration of PTA, who did a crazy looney tones political bonanza. Reminde me a lot of Eddington. It's somehow PTA's funniest film to date. Some bits reminiscent of the weed haze of Inherent Vice, his adaptation of Pynchon's other counterculture book.

There is also a big connection (and inspiration) with Gillo Pontecorvo's revolutionary classic Batle of Algiers (1966). 

Epic duration, 2h41, but it goes fast, on this one I would've liked to be even longer, more Christmas Adventureres,  Billy Goat, Beegee, Comrade Josh and Talleyrand.

The film is dedicated to Adam Somner, the legendary second unit director (Gladiator, Phantom Thread) and producer of 5 of PTA's films from There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice, Licorice Piza to this last, OBATA. Somner died last year in November after completing this film...

4 out of 5, 8 out of 10 !!!

*Defintely it's a film that you can revisit, plus very TODAY in the actual political climate. 

RIP Claudia Cardinale

 Claudia Cardinale...born in Tunis, died in France...Icon of Italian and International Cinema, beauty and elegance. 

The princess from The Pink Panther. a princess in Il Gatopardo, 

8 1/2, Rocco e sui fratelli, Fitzcarraldo. Fellini, Visconti, Herzog.

Great part in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, the only woman persona in his westerns.

She was honored at TIFF Cluj in 2009...

                                                              (15.04.2025-23.10.2023)

The Bride (2026)

Movie or at least Curio of next year ?

The Bride, Maggie Gyllenhaal's second film after The Lost Daughter (2021) is a revisonist retelling of Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale), with Jessie Buckley (Fargo sez, IV) as The Bride, Christian Bale as Frankenstein's Monster, and Jake Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening.

The Bride is a mix of Poor Things and Joker (Folie a deux), with elements of Public Enemies (Bale again..), Bonnie and Clyde and other goodies of the 30's era. 

Just fyi, there was another The Bride, starring Sting, Clancy Brown as the Monster aka Viktor and Jennifer Beals as "Eve", directed by Franc Roddam, in 1985.

Transilvania Blues Festival VII

 Communique:

Transilvania Blues Festival – Ediția a VII-a aduce nume mari din lumea bluesului internațional pe 26 și 27 septembrie 2025, la Club Rockstadt, Braşov

Festivalul care aduce anual în centrul României nume importante ale blues-ului internațional aniversează 7 ani de existență. Ediția din acest an propune un program care pune în valoare

diversitatea stilistică a blues-ului contemporan, de la tradiția americană la influențele europene moderne.

LINE-UP 2025:

Vineri, 26 septembrie

* Riccardo Grosso Blues Band (Italia) – Trupă apreciată pe scena europeană pentru

interpretările autentice și abordarea modernă a blues-ului clasic. Frontman-ul Riccardo

Grosso este recunoscut în Europa pentru tehnica sa rafinată la muzicuță și interpretările

expresive, care îl plasează printre cei mai apreciați artiști de blues din Italia. Prezență în

premieră în România, exclusiv la Transilvania Blues Festival.

* Sean Chambers & The Savoy Brown Rhythm Section (SUA) – Chitarist și vocalist din Florida,

cu o carieră de peste două decenii, fost membru al trupei lui Hubert Sumlin (chitaristul lui

Howlin’ Wolf). A fost inclus de revista Guitarist Magazine în topul celor mai buni 50 de

chitariști de blues din lume, iar albumele sale au intrat constant în clasamentele Billboard

Blues și Roots Music Report. Revine în România după concertul de succes susținut la

Transilvania Blues Nights pe 23 noiembrie 2023.

Sâmbătă, 27 septembrie

* Jörg Danielsen & Vienna Blues Association (Austria) – Un proiect internațional care

reunește muzicieni de top din scena vieneză și scandinavă. Jörg Danielsen este fondatorul

Vienna Blues Association și organizatorul Blues Festival Falkenstein & Austrian Blues

Challenge. Jörg Danielsen va fi prezent în premieră în Brașov, exclusiv la Transilvania Blues

Festival.

* John Primer & Giles Robson (SUA/Marea Britanie) – Două nume de referință în blues-ul mondial. John Primer, fost chitarist pentru Muddy Waters și Magic Slim, este un pilon al blues-ului tradițional din Chicago. Giles Robson, unul dintre puținii muzicieni europeni care au câștigat un Blues Music Award, completează acest duo unic. John Primer va fi prezent în premieră în Brașov, exclusiv la Transilvania Blues Festival.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transilvania Blues Festival este un proiect cultural organizat de Asociația Transilvania Arts &

Events și finanțat de Consiliul Județean Brașov.

Sponsori: BCR, ButanGas, Dräxlmaier, Tehnic Mihor BitDatamining, Aplind

Parteneri: Brașov Old Town Apartments, A-Ha Bistro, Coliba Haiducilor, Rock FM, Zile și Nopți

🎟 Bilete disponibile pe: rockstadt.ro

Ziua 1 / Ziua 2 - 125 lei (pre-sale) | 150 lei (in ziua concertului). Abonament 2 zile - 200 lei

26–27 septembrie 2025, 19:00-23:00, open doors 17:30

Clubul Rockstadt, Brașov

📅 Facebook event: TRANSILVANIA BLUES FESTIVAL – Ediția a VII-a

B. There & Let There B. Blues!!!

                                                https://www.transilvaniablues.ro

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... 

Highest 2 Lowest (2025) .

"All Money Ain’t Good Money"   (David King)

Highest 2 Lowest is Spike Lee's reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 masterpiece High and Low, based on Ed McBain's book, The King's Ransom. It's about a kidnapping gone wrong and a moral decision and dillema of a rich man on the edge of losing all his money. The 1st act is slow as in Kurosawa'a original (the script for this is credited to the Japanese master and his collaborators, the film itself is dedicated to him).  Then the pace changes and it becomes energetic until the end. 

The film premiered in Cannes this year, out of competition (with Denzel Washington receiving an impromptu Palme d'Or for his 1st !!! visit to the Croisette) and it's an Apple+ film-for streaming with limited release in the US by A24. 

Denzel in his 5th collaboration with Spike plays a music mogul, "the best ears in the business" David King (the King from King's Ransom, in Kurosawa's film is Kingo Gondô as played by a magnificent Toshiro Mifune).  His second, friend and driver is Paul, a great restrained and dry humored performance by Jeffrey Wright.

Shot by Matthew Libatique, who went back to back in NY locations with Aronofsky's Caught Stealing (in cinemas now, go and see) in glorios widescreen. Libatique worked before with Lee on four films, including another NY flick, Inside Man .

H2L is a colorful love letter to Spike's beloved New York., Manhattan, Brookyln Bridge, Puerto Rican parade, Yankee stadium. 

Complete with 2 lengthy train /subway chases that quotes and hatsoff s Friedkin's legendary The French Connection. 

Also lots of art, from Basquiat to sports memorabilia and a lot of Muhhamed Ali stuff, to a painting entitled "Billie, Lester, Fats and Duke" by Frederick J. Brown. This painting was featured in "The Spike Lee 'Creative Sources' Exhibition" at the Brooklyn Museum. The title refers to prominent jazz musicians: Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington.

The soundtrack is a symphonic Howard Drossin score, then rap songs by A$AP Rocky (in the film Yung Felon) and some James Brown mean rhythms. 

The opening credits are shots of new NY buildings getting to King's skyscraper penthouse / terrace on classic musical Oklahoma's  Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin', sung by Norm Lewis. A live performanced of Eddie Palmieri's Orchestra and Aiyana-Lee Anderson (as newcomer singer Sula) playing the title song (cos you goota too ;). Read comments and reviews about the worst score - I don't get if they meant the score or the songs, but personally I find the score excellent and a breakthrough-Drossin worked as an orchestrator for Spike's regular Terence Blanchard and with Lee since The 25th Hour, also with RZA and making videogames music. 

Might be Lee's most commercial film 'til Inside Man and the disastrous Oldboy and it's uneven but flavoury.

Revisited Kurosawa's film this spring and it's a timeless masterpiece! Lee's version plays more like a cover song, in color and with vivid wipes and tumult. 

6 out of 10 / 3 out of five !

Kurosawa's 1963 High and Low is a 9/10 for me ! Could've been a Ten tho ;)

Inside Man (2006) English

 Inside Man – Inside Spike Lee’s Cap

Alin Ludu Dumbravă, Șapte Seri / April 2006

"Small country, a few tables." (Gheorghe Dinică)

And no hats. I think almost every passionate cinemagoer here (a small, somewhat dysfunctional minority, like the great bustard in Bărăgan) knows Spike Lee — “that Black guy with glasses and a cap” — from that Orange Wednesday commercial, where he pitches a baseball movie. “Their colors were white and blue — can’t it be orange?” they give him a corporate cap: “Hey Spike, you forgot your hat!” Classic Orange Wednesday commercials (no, not the ones with hobbits with weird voices; no, Orange doesn’t pay me).

What was I writing? Ah, yes… Spike Lee’s cap. Hobbits. Baseball. Because here, this breed of cinema wanderer — let’s call him the inside man, like in Spike’s film, which he made after they refused to fund that other baseball movie — expects not to have the credits cut, popcorn dropped on his head, or get called by fools during the screening. He wants the film projected correctly, with care (I can already hear the muted curses of projectionists who just want peace, since “the equipment dates back to Ceaușescu”), yet he’s actually an outside man, getting roughed up regularly, like in the joke about the bear and the rabbit: “Why don’t you have a hat, man?” — Bam!

But let’s get back to Spike’s film — the second to hit our screens after 25th Hour; the guy’s been making films since the ’80s! Inside Man is his first truly commercial movie, with the biggest budget, A-list stars, studio financing and marketing. A film about (fake) heists, hostages, New Yorkers, and even… Albanians (a Romanian actress — Florina Petcu, see her photo on IMDb — plays an Albanian), without baseball or caps (Denzel wears a fedora).

With stars like Clive Owen, Denzel Washington (his fourth Spike Lee film), Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, and Willem Dafoe. A strong opening credit sequence, flawless cinematography, sharp editing, and a Terence Blanchard score. Like Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible, a commercial concession, Inside Man is intelligent, subversive, and acerbic. Add Spike Lee’s personal touch, racial undertones, and his unmistakable New Yorker flavor in the tense post-9/11 climate — humor and energy included.

More interesting for the cinemagoer than the movie about the guy in white-and-blue baseball gear. “Hey Spike, you forgot your hat!” Paraphrasing: “No hat? Take a Koprol!”

Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe

RIP Rick Davies

Rick Davies, the keyboardist of Supertramp (on Wurlitzer), and founding member in 1969, died on Sept. 6th 2025 at 81 :( 

He stayed with the band after Roger Hodgson's departure, in 1983. 

Supertramp was one of my favorite bands in the 80's, and in the 90's too, following my exposure to the vinyl of Breakfast in America (1979), which I kept and played to exhaustion. Then saw the vhs of Paris Live and later on I taped and then bought all their CD's, classic perios era. Saw only Roger Hodgson live in 2019 in Bucharest...

                                                              "Ain't Nobody But Me"

Rolling Stone obit here 

Caught Stealing (2025)

Darren Aronofsky is an arthouse favorite from Pi to The Whale, passing through The Fountain, Black Swan and The Wrestler), and this Caught Stealing might be his most commercial film yet. But that's not a bad thing. At all. 

Taking cues from the Coens and Guy Ritchie, he revisits New York of 1998 in a dark irreverent comedy thriller complete with an English Punk mohawk, a cat, Russian mobsters and two Rabbi killers. 

Written by Charlie Huston, based on his book from 2004.  It's actually the 1st book in a series of three, about the character Hank Thompson. If Caught... (great Romanian Title, Prins cu mata-n sac....NOT) is a hit. Hopefully it will and Butler will carry on. 

A major influence, as also checked is After Hours (Scorsese, 1985), see the video in the comments.

Very cool cast, including Griffin Dunne from After Hours, who could be actually the same character, Paul, Village bar owner, mentioning Lou and Andy ;), Austin Butler (his third important lead, after Elvis and The Bikeriders), Zoë Kravitz (Blink Twice), Regina King, rappers Bad Bunny & Action Bronson and brit Matt Smith. Plus the fantastic duo of Liev Schrieber and Vincent D'Onofrio. Another fantastic duo, the Russians -Nikita Kukushkin (Microbe)  and Yuri Kolokolnikov (Alexei). Also featuring Carol Kane. But the absolute highlight is Bud the Cat, played by Tonic. 

Shot by Aronofsky's regular, Matthew Libatique in 1.85: 1. Some impressive camera moves and angles, great location value, NY truly lives in every shot. Lots of graffiti dressing. Libatique shot this back to back in NY locations with Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest.

 

Songs by post-punk band Idles, score by Rob Simonsen. Including a cover of Police and Thieves, made famous by The Clash in 1976. Some Bowie references, a lot of pop culture around, all soundtrack songs here.

RIP Graham Greene

 Graham Greene, Dances with Wolves now on the other side...

Thunderheart, Wind River

Together (2025)

New entry in the Body horror genre, after the recent The Substance, this is the debut feature of writer/director Michael Shanks. Liked it more than the overrated Bring Her Back. For me the other interesting horror fodder this year include 28 Years Later and Weapons. 

Together is an ambitious little horror flick, with themes of love and obsession, about a couple that moves in a little village house, far from town, and a mysterious pit in the woods.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie are married in real life so the intimate scenes have more power, intensity and authenticity than with other actors.

Supporting is Aussie Damon Herriman (The Nightingale, OUATIH, The  Bikeriders), and when he's on screen you know something ain't right ;)

Shot in Australia in only 21 days. Debut at Sundance Film Fest in Jan. 2025. Was presented even in  Locarno film fest !

Powerful score by Cornel Wilczek. End song, Another One by Golden Suits (2016). 

The effects are good for their budget, some morph coming from The Thing and more recently Color out of Space.

7 out 10 ! 3 1/2 out of 5 !

LMA Rob Halford !!!

 

Some Cakes Are Gonna Roll !!! ;)

Eddington (2025)

Eddington is one of the must-see of this year, Ari Aster's new film, his forth (after Hereditary, Midsmmmer, Beau in Afraid). via Cannes )in competition), it's imo his best. Dark, brutal, black comedy, western and thriller and political satire. It's craziness galore and one of the best performances of Joaquin Phoenix. Aster's second film with Phoenix after the werird, wild but pretentious (and over-long) Beau is Afraid in 2023.

best film about Pandemic and about America in a long time. Also starring Pedro Pascal & Emma Stone.

1st Aster film shot by legendary Darius Khondji (from Se7en to The Ninth Gate to recent Mickey 17). Great score by Daniel Pemberton. 

Unfortunately this A24 release is not in Romanian theaters. A pitty.

 8 out of 10 (a bit off steam at 2 h 28)! 4  out of 5 !

RIP Terence Stamp

Mouring one of the greatest British Icons, made big by Italian cinema and American popcorn (und more).  Terence Stamp was 87. He was Toby Dammitt in Fellini's sketch of Poe's omnibus Histoires Extrraordinaires/ Spirits of the Dead. He was in Pasolini's Teorema, as he was general Zod ;). 

He won best actor in Cannes in 1965 for The Collector.

From his film debut in Billy Budd (1962, where he received his onbly Oscar nomination) to his last bit in Last Night in Soho (2021) he was a cool, silent, sometimes very menacing presence. 

For me it was at most fun as the perverted host of the short-lived series The Hunger (1997-98).

Other highlights: Modesty Blaise, The Hit, The Limey (featuring Poor Cow).

1st ime I saw him as a kid as the badguy Wazir in the Clive Donner's Thief of Baghdad (1978,  actually a made for TV film).

Stand-out, Australian The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), which can be seen streaming now on HBO Max.

Far from the Madding Crowd indeed...

Weapons (2025)

2.17.

From Zach Cregger,  the author of Barbarian comes one of the most interesting horror films of the year. 

Magnolia  (as mentioned as an influence by the director- I'll go with Robert Altman ;) meets Suspiria meets Village/ Children of the Damned. Maybe also some Twin Peaks ;)

Weapons is a gimmicky horror black comedy told in 6 chapters.

It starts with a rendition of George Harrison's 1970 song Beware of Darkness. 

The keyword is WITCH. 

loved the lettering of the title in the night sky.

Amy Madigan is a standout but the pic is an acting ensemble gem. My faved tho is Austin Abrams as James, a wink to characters like Silent Bob.

Cregger also co-wrote the music, atmospheric and effective, together with Ryan and Hays Holladay (who did also songs for Barbarian).

3 1/2 out of 5, 7 out of 10*

*for me the seventh chapter (left out) would've been a plus, I guess...(the back story of the witch)

LE: check comment below ;)

RIP Ozzy Osbourne

....somehow weird and macabre that my last post was Back to the Beginning about OZZY and his celebration...now Ozzy has left the building...I think happier than before this last fantastic gig...

RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Sweet Prince (of Darkness also;), the Man, The Legend, the History of Heavy Metal Incarnate...saw him with Black Sabbath in Sofia and Solo in Bucharest. He was a good (and more than virtual friend of mine since 8th grade, faithful during his eighties excess (with a soft spot for the Randy Rhoades tragedy, the Alamo showdown, the Sharon incidents and the Bat kill) , his 90's comeback (No More Tears and Ozzmosis), and the 2000's Sabbath Reunions and peace agreements. I even watched some of The Osbournes, who made him really a star in the US. In my first Doc and Roll festival in Brasov back in 2014 we showed a great doc about him,  God Bless Ozzy Osbourne –2011, after which screening even my mom liked him ;) (they were born the same day... )

...oddly just two days ago I was listening to his penultimatealbum, Ordinary Man . One of my Top albums of 2020. It's an album marked by death and loss, ike Sabbath's The End (2016). His last was Patient No. 9 in 2022, featuring the late now Jeff Beck. 

End of an Era. Full Point. 

As he was a fan of John Lennon, the Working Class Hero song would've suited him (Ozzy had a cover of Lennon's signature song on his cover album Under Cover from 2005)...

                                                      

                                                 "Mama, I'm coming Home".....................as he played it in Birmingham too...

Back to the Beginning

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

This is the Ozzy family tree pic. 

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. 

Blüesferatü revine la Castelul Bran – 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30

Cine-concertul live Blüesferatü revine la Castelul Bran – 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30

 

Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), capodopera regizorului expresionist F.W. Murnau, este considerat unul dintre cele mai importante filme mute din istoria cinematografiei. Muzica originală a filmului s-a pierdut, iar de-a lungul timpului s-au realizat numeroase partituri alternative, făcând din Nosferatu un favorit al cine-concertelor din întreaga lume.

 

Dar niciodată nu s-a cântat blues pe el. Până acum.

 

Blüesferatü – eine Symphonie des Blues aduce în România o versiune live în care imaginea iconică a lui Nosferatu este acompaniată de o coloană sonoră originală, compusă și interpretată live de șase muzicieni brașoveni, într-o cheie blues psihedelic, intensă și cinematică.

După premiera mondială din 2023 și reprezentațiile din 2024 în cadrul Transilvania Blues Festival Brașov, Buzău International Arts Festival și TIFF Timișoara, proiectul revine în 2025, pe 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30, într-o nouă punere în scenă, în grădina Castelului Bran.

 

Muzica originală este compusă și interpretată live de muzicieni brașoveni: Ionuț Constantin „Yokko” – compozitor, dirijor; Robert Watzatka „Watzzy” – compozitor, chitară; Ilyes Botond „Boti” – chitară; Mihai Nedea – clape; Ciprian Pârvu – bas; Claudiu Rusu „Kani” – tobe. Muzicienii vor cânta live în fața ecranului pe toată durata filmului - 95 de minute!

 

Un eveniment rar, aflat la granița dintre muzică, film și performance, sub clar de lună, în inima Transilvaniei.

 

Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Transilvania Arts & Events.

 

 Bilete: iabilet.ro

110 RON în presale | 130 RON la intrare

 Eveniment Facebook: Blüesferatü – Live at Bran Castle

 

Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Transilvania Arts & Events finanțat de Consiliul Județean Brașov, cu sprijinul Castelului Bran, recomandat de Rock FM și Zile și Nopți.

Sponsori: BCR, Butan Gas

Parteneri culinari: Stoker Wines