How to Make a Killing (2026)

How to Make a Killing is in cinemas now. This is John Patton Ford's second film. Loved his first effort, Emily the Criminal back in 2022, it made my Top Films list. 

This is Film Noir, dark comedy, thriller, and most of all an homage of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1959), the classic Ealing comedy with Alce Guiness es ;), based on the novel , it says on the credits. "Insiperd by" those two. 

Also has an 80's air, it's cynical and politically incorrect, stylish and crisp. 

Finally a good part for Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow (cool names in this family !), after the huge misfire of  new Running Man-Liked the guy in his SNL episode, I think he has more comedic potential than action chops, definetly romantic too.

Margaret Qualley is the bad femme fatale in the story, another good part in her resume after Honey Don't, Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things, The Substance. I first liked her in Once Upon A Time in...Hollywood. 

Jessica Henwick is the romantic interest, Ruth. Bill Camp has a nice part as Warren Redfellow, also Topher Grace as one of the Redfellows (Steven) and Zach Woods (from Sillicon Valley) another one (Noah). Also Ed Harris' part as the patriarch Whitelaw Redfellow is more like a cameo, but he's effective as ever. 

Amazingly enough this was shot in South Africa instead of New York and New Jersey !!!

Great score by Emile Mosserri and effective soundtrack-The Clapping Song (Shirley Ellis) , the Brazilian classic Take Me Back to Piaui by Juca Chaves, No Fear by Inflo, etc. 

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 ! 

No Other Choice (2025)

1st film I saw on 2026 it's one of the best of 2025 and one of Park Chan-wook's best. No Other Choice aka Eojjeolsuga eobsda.  It's also the offical Korean Submission for Best International film at the Oscars and it's nominated for 3 Golden Globes Awards. No Other Choice premiered in the 2025 Venice Film Fest Competition. It won Best Director in Sitges FF. 

It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy. Just peropeare for slower development, the film has 2h19 mins.

I follow the Korean director for 25 years, ever since he came to Bucharest with his 1st feature, JSA (Joint Security Area) at the 1st Festasia fest edition.  That was before Oldboy, Mr. and Mrs. Vengeance, Thirst, Handmaiden and Stoker. Saw most of his oeuvre, also the HBO series The Sympathiser, so I can say that this one it's one of his best. 

Lee Byung-hun who is South Korean leading man is here a Paper Man, formerly "Pulp Man of the Year 2019." He was also in PCWook's JSA, in A Bittersweet Life, Squid Game series, even in G.I. Joe. He gets back at working with PCW after 25 years. Here he is a plain family man, with a desperate will to get back to his job that was downsized.  Son Ye-jin is great too as his wife Miri, and so is the son Si-one and the daughter Ri-One- playing cello. And the two dogs (Si-Two and Ri-Two). And all the supporting characters. Great supporting characters !

It's a Korean Le Coupert / The Axe, based on Donald  E.Westlake 1997 novel. It was made before by Costa-Gavras in 2005 as The Ax, a great black comedy, merciless, starring José Garcia. But Wook-Chan goes even further in absurdity and satire. He co-wrote this with Don McKellar, they worked together before on The Sympathiser. The film is produced by Costa-Gavras family and it's dedicated to the Greek director, who kept the rights of the novel and gave them to Park Chan. The film was supposed to be in English first (starting 2009) but kept developing.

Via IMDB: During a live discussion with Costa-Gavras at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, Park told audiences that he was still working on his adaptation of Westlake's novel. The film was described by Park as a "lifetime project" and that while he hadn't begun filming it yet, he wished "to make this film as my masterpiece." Gavras, who still held the rights to the book, had helped Park to develop the project. The film was set to be an English-language picture, with Don McKellar co-writing the script alongside Park.

The design is fabulous too, from the bonsai and the greenhouse to the seasons change, going from summer to winter (it was shot in a period of five months, from August 2024 to January 2025). The colors are very important for the transitions and the story. Impeccable widescreen (2.35 : 1) cinematography  (by Kim Woo-hyung who worked before with the director on The Little Drummer Girl series) and editing (Kim Sang-bum, Park's editor since JSA), adding to the plot points and directing. 

Great score too, and great idea of a cello subplot, by Chan-wook Park's collaborator, Cho Young-Wuk.  The score includes incidental classical music, Mozart piano concerto (no. 23!), Marin Marais and pop hits, Korean and American (Hold On I'm Coming by Sam and Dave -1966), edited and directed on camera (one set-piece might as well be the best Cinema scene of 2025!-and the funniest -with subtitles too ;).

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!!

“I've always been trying to follow the footsteps of the great masters of cinema, most of whom have passed away today. I've tried very hard to reach their level. And I think in certain scenes or certain films, I might have reached a similar level, but there's still a very long way to go. So, when I think about how many more films I can make for the rest of my life, I feel very rushed.”

Park Chan-wook 

*the screenplay of the film in English can be found here !!! 

The Running Man (2025)

The new Running Man, is not a remake pre se of the Ahnuld 1987 vehicle, but a more faithful adaptation of Stephen King as Richard Bachman novel, written in 1973, published in 1982. That novel happened in the year 2025 and actually today it happens, with the Squid Game series and a Korean Reality show named exactly Running Man. So Ben Richards is in a banal world, becoming more real every day. I mean, it's like Y-day news after the Hunger Games series and all the Tv/straming fare of this kind. 

Running man is of course influenced by Rollerball, which still stands up as one of the best film of its era (not the shitty unnecesaary reamke) it's even worse tha n its remake.

Everyone's commenting, oh, it's an Edgar Wright film. Ok, that is like a certified value for a big budget blockbuster Sf action  (110 mill. $). surely not. I was also very dispointed by Lst Night in Soho, his take in gialllos, very pretentios and shallow. The most action Wright directed was in Baby Driver, which I enjoyed most of his all films, and he's better in making quirky, funny, heartfelt little films, not Hollywood fodder.

Also Glen Powell, which I've just seen in the lastest SNL edition, can't carry the film., at all. Not a problem with the guy and he tries hard but neh.

This would've worked as a Snake Plissken adventure, like Escape fromn the Dome. I guess Wright gave a few nods to John Carpenter. 

There's also a problem with the duration which is overlong, 2h13 min, oi, the film doesn't start until we get to the show and no matter how good Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo are, they can't help much.

Also this world, used and dirty, used to cost less to produce on the screen. Here they went to Bulgaria for exteriors and day shots. Somehow doesn't look like America. The rest of it was hot at Warner Bros' studios in England.

Now for the music, unimpressive loud score by Steven Price. And as Edgar Wright ia great fan of songs to use on the soundtrack (yeah, great in Baby Driver), here most of them are wasted. Rolling Stones'  Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Sly and the Family Stone (Underdog)-on the main credits, Iggy and the Stooges (Search and Destroy), The Allman Brothers (Revival) , Miles Davis (Red China Blues) and Tom Jones (Keep on Running) on the end credits. Including a riff of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (last heard appropiately in One Battle After Another). And Jamie XX, far from my desk ;)

It's been Stephen King's year all over, from Life of Chuck to Welcome to Derry, the IT prequel that runs now on HBO MAX, MGM's The Institute series, passing through The Monkey and another Bachman opus, The Long Walk (which I liked best of these all, my review here). 

Wright's film is full of King references /Easter eggs for the eyes of King's fans and King himself, credited as an executive producer. Of course King was happy with the film, as I know his tastes in film (ex: how much he hated Kubrick's The Shining and managed to to a sequel just to get rid of that Kubrick hangover, I don't care so much about what he likes or does not cinematically...hey, what about that Maximum Overdrive? 

2 1/2 out of 5 

*I opened recently a Letterboxed account in order to write down the films I see which I hardly can here, and my "reARviews" will be isssued there. Same ratings apply. 

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 ;)

Top series 2024

fargo season 5 (waz in between years, wrote last year)

******

Ripley (though is not a series per se, more alike a 7 hours film!) 

the day of the jackal

Sugar

The Sympathizer

The Penguin

KAOS

&

The Landman -in between years, saw just five episodes, for Billy Bob whose career best it is (Ex aqueo with Goliath ;)

Nosferatu (2024)

 No to the new  nosferatu

now, this comes to close to home as we had the Bluesferatu project already in the third year now !

so I was expecting more, not more length (an overlong bloated 2h12), the original Nosferatu is 95 min, out of which intertitles  and Eggers' is more Dracula than S-feratu. Says on the end credits, the film is based both on Henrik Galeen's 1922 script and on Bram Stoker's novel (1897). 

Note on Jan. 23d, Nosferatu is nominated for 4 Oscars, Costume design, make up and hair stilling, cinematography and production design. 

"years later" and generous budgets spent, here we go...Germany 1838. 

Lilly Rose Depp is nympho Ellen (a somnambul), Nicholas Hoult is the victimised Thomas Hutter, Bill Skarsgård (or should I say his shadow?) is Count Orlok, Willem Dafoe is the mad professor alchemist, Simon Mc Burney is Knock (this tale's Renfield), Ralph Iverson is the other doctor, Emma Corrin, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, are useless new characters, also from Stoker's Dracula and Coppola's film (plus two wasted girls that should've bite in the end).

All Romania settings , the gypsy's, the monastery, The Hundedoara Castle (looks like the one from Van Helsing, why shoot exteriors there?), the language, I couldn't care less. Shot in Czech Rep. , the interior castle is exactly the one from the original Nosferatu), on a lavish budget (50 mill. $) , with beautiful costumes, shadows, exquisite snow and desaturated colors.

The cinematography, by attired Eggers collaborator on all his films, Jarin Blaschke, is the major plus of the film. 

I didn't like the Nosferatu look at all, a Hungarian Husssar, a Moustache (yes, Vlad the Impaler had it..), the whole decrepit, pandemic look, reminded me of Pampon  (Victor Rebengiuc) in the Caragiale adpatation, De ce trag clopotele, Mitica?/Carnival scenes (1981).  And the whole schock extreme close-ups, cuts, sound effects, double tracks, way overdone. And let's not even start arguing about that prosthetic penis, It got me in a real whirlwind argument about if vampires can have sex the regular way...imo NO !

Eggers says he's inspired by Zualwski's Devil, Bergman's Cries and Whispers, Paradjanov and other rusky obsurish cults, but I see more a rehash of Herzog's Nosferatu and Coppola's Dracula. And Rose a far cry from her imatotaion of Adjani in Posession. 

Also, I did not like the music (by Robin Carolan, his second film for Eggers after The Northman), reminiscent of Wojchiek Kilar's Dracula, but without that panache. 

XXX

and an interview on videoclub konbini with Roger Eggers here, about his influences and favorite films. 

you can see & read the Nosferatu script here.

No

a

and 

The Day of the Jackal (2024)

 the new version got me hooked

Eddie Redmayne that's why

some woke s*it but I got over it..

waited for it to be over to comment

Rip Tony Todd

The original "Candyman", Tony Todd was 69. He died on November 6th 2024. I thought he was younger... Although he was in hundreds of films Tony Todd will remain forever The Candyman (Clive Barker's iconic horror character directed by Bernard Rose in 1992), that spawned two sequels and a remake in 2011. Last time I saw him this year when I re-saw Dennis Hopper's Color, wher he had a bit part as a Vietnam Vet (1988). He played militaries also in Platoon and The Rock.

The Killer (2024)

 *not to be confused with David Fincher's thriller with the same name of 2023. 

This is John Woo's THE KILLER, his own remake to his famous cult film The Killer from 1989, that premiered (streaming :( on Peacock on Aug. 23 2024.

it's woke but is more than that.

It is John Woo's French film, it's an homage to Le Samourai (1967) even more than the original Killer was. In the circumstance of recent Alain Delon's demise, this works more nostalgic than intended. Shot in Paris of no limits A budget and in touristic spots, plus the church from the original and the pigeons TM. And a goldfish. A samurai (!) sword. A black hat. And a crossword pun. And bikers on relanti. In flames. Woo-ish. 

Woo will be 78 this September (22), so he's not getting any younger. His influences on the action cinema were in the '90's. That's why they called him overseas, after hardboiled (1992). He started with Hard Target (soft spot as I was a publicist on it, back in 1994's Media Pro Pictures distribution), moved on to Broken Arrow and hit the mark with Face/Off. His last great film was Mission: Impossible in 2000. After the failure of Paycheck he went back to China but I didn't resonate with any of his films there (actually I only saw the 1st Red Cliff). 

The man is surely a woman now -Zee-Nathalie Emmanuel-from the Fast & Furious series ( a la Nikita, there's even a quote of that, and that's Tcheky Karyo's cameo) and the cop -Sey-Omar Sy-international star since Inotochables- is black. The singer is given more to do and done, and the plot is mambojumbo-ish to the maxxx. The remake has been in the works from the 90's and I think it's great that finally Woo gets to re-do it and in Paris of all places. The script is credited to Brian Helgeland, Josh Sanders and Matt Stueken (surely not all together, , but Woo sure added up his own marks. The whole thing is marred by the need to switch to English all the time, and keep some French just for the picturesque. 

But Omar Sy could've been Belmondo. Le Flic.And Nathalie Emmanuel, Delon, Le Samourai.

Woo's daughter, Angeles Woo is acting in it as a killer. Name of her character, Chi Mai ;)

She's also a co-producer.

Lots of juicy parts, Eric Cantona is a Top gangster, Said Taghmaoui is an Arab prince, Diana Silvers is Jenn, the singer, victim and target, Sam Worthington is Finn, the contracter of Zee, he does a Strong Irish accent complete with the annoying "beat of my heart' bit in Irish. A stand-out, stunt woman Aurelia Ager as the baddie blonde evil henchie with ponytails Juliet, her 1st real acting part (hope she goes Zoe Bell's way). 

The music is key, Marco Beltrami at the helm, with Buck Sanders helping him, doing an Ennio Morricone tribute, with whisting, a woman operatic voice, complete with a song (that integrates the film-"Introuvable", sang by Jorane), Eric Serra style. There's even a cue from Le Samourai, "Costello dans la ville", from the score by Francois de Roubaix. 

Very well lit cinematography by Mauro Fiore, Antoine Fuqua and Oscar winner for Avatar cinematographer. Edited by Zach Staenberg, the guy who cut all the Matrix trilogy.

So, it's flawed, it's naive but I could feel it's goodhearted as opposed to cringe, and someone else would've done it worse. 

It looks like a Europacorps prod. from the 90's, it's been in development for so long, Universal studios bound, and though it ended on streaming.

Pity it wasn't in theaters, even if it's not John Wick (a series that took from Woo big time), it's his Grandfather and granddaughters. Inc. 

3 out of 5, 6 out of 10 !

Bluesferatu@Bran Castle 6.07.24

 Not 2 be Missed, our show of the Year ;)

event here

&

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470842583640074

tickets on @iabilet.ro

Communique:

"Nosferatu - Eine Symphonie des Grauens", de F. W. Murnau (1922), este unul din cele mai importante filme mute.
Muzica originală s-a pierdut, așa că s-au făcut nenumărate partituri pentru el și este un favorit live al festivalurilor de film și nu numai.
Dar niciodată nu s-a cântat Blues pe el. Un blues mai psihedelic, dar ce blues, Bluesferatu!!!
Muzica originală este compusă și interpretată live de muzicieni brașoveni, Robert Watzatka ”Watzzy” - chitară, Ionuț Constantin ”Yokko”, Costi Popescu - tobe, Ilyes Botond ”Boti”- chitară , Mihai Nedea - keyboards, Ovidiu Mihai - bas, anume: Proiectul Bluesferatu!
Anul trecut l-am prezentat pe 28 septembrie în premieră mondială la Brașov, în cadrul Transilvania Blues Festival - și în avanpremieră la Banca de Cultură Apollonia și la Hub 2068.
Acum va fi proiectat pe un ecran în curtea castelului Bran (exterior), cel mai potrivit spatiu pentru Bluesferatu & Co să se dezlănțuie - în aer liber, la lumina lunii. Muzicienii vor cânta live în fata ecranului pe toată durata filmului - 95 de minute!
Un concert - eveniment: Bluesferatu 2.0. sau Bluesferatu Comes to Bran!!!

Biete: 100 RON in pre-sale si 120 RON in seara concertului !

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

Partener principal – Castelul Bran
Powered by BCR.
Partener enologic: Stoker Wines
Parteneri media: Rock FM, Hit FM, Zile și Nopți

B. There and Let There B. Bluesferatu !!!

Announced just now the trailer for Roger Eggers' Nosferatu,null out this Xmas, it's a good preparation for it

Ripley (2024)

...after so many incarnations, starting with Plein Soleil/Purple Noon (1960), where Alain Delon was Tom Ripley, the Patricia Highsmith absolute spellbinding psycho-sociopath is back ! 

In black and white and extended duration ! Since y-day- 4.4.24- on Netflix  (they bought it from Showtime)!

Steven Zaillian, master screenwriter (from Schindler's List to The Irishman) and art-house director (Searching for Bobby Fisher), social activism ( A Civil  Action), unlucky remake (All the King's Men), great HBO mini-series (The Night Of, in my Top 2016), took the time (it feels and it looks) to write and direct RIPLEY, an ambitios, artsy adaptation of the NOVEL The Talented Mr. Ripley (published in 1955 and followed by 4 sequels!) set in Italy in 1960, in no less than 8 episodes, marked I to VIII (V Lucio, man, loved the pun! and the last shot, that was a genius finesse touch).  Another masterful touch and change from the novel can be found here.  Zaillian is slowly developing his painting on a vast canvas and takes his time to boil into the mind and psyche of Ripley, one of the most fascinating characters in literature and film history !  The novel has been also adapted in a highly successful film that I am not a big fan of (in 1999 by Anthony Minghella, with Matt Damon as Tom Ripley).

An older Ripley has been portrayed by Dennis Hopper in Der Amerikanishe Freund (Wim Wenders, 1977), John Malkovich in Ripley's Game (Liliana Cavani, 2002) and Barry Pepper in Ripley Under Ground (2005, Roger Spotiswoode).

Irishman Andrew Scott who did a brilliant mastermind villain in the BBC Sherlock series, namely Moriarty and recently a grand acting job in All of Us Strangers, kills (metaphorically and practically ;) as the best Tom Ripley 2 date.

And Brit Johnny Flynn (The Outfit) is a brilliant Dickie Greenleaf,  putting on both the spleen and the class. Dakota Fanning is Marge Sherwood, good part for her, but she does not shine. Well, also the      character does not in the story.  Maurizio Lombardi as Inspector Ravini is wonderful, the accent, the manierisms, a cross between Lee Van Cleef and Buster Keaton. We got also lady Margherita Buy, which I saw last in Nani Moretti's Il sol dell'avvenire . Playwright Kenneth Lonergan is Dickie's father, Herbert Greenleaf. And Eliot Sumner as Freddy Miles (Sumner is Sting's non-binary child, I learned a new word with this, (non-binary, ok, got it.)

Robert Elswit's cinematography is an homage to all greatness of black and white cinema. He and Zaillian take the time to shoot a lot of inserts and details, architectural symmetries or mathematical constructed shots. Loved the Caravaggio puns. Elswit is PTA's collaborator, he won an Oscar for There Will Be Blood and worked with Zaillian before in The Night Of. The set design, the locations, lavish production on a "no problemo" budget, period reconstruction, and great Italian casting. Jeff Russo (Fargo) does a great job with the tense music. Also a poignant sound design all over. 

Here's a Vanity Fair article on the cinematography of the project. 

and two more words: Reeves Minot ;) TBC ?

RIP Norman Jewison

Norman Jewison was one of the most serious & eclectic directors that ever were. We was versatile in all genres but he cared for social and political issues and made important films, like his peers, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, Sydney Pollack, his contemporaries. Like all of them he started his career in Television, in the Fifties. He survived his era and was retired long ago now, his last film being 21 years ago (The Statement, 2003). He died at 97 years of age without winning a single Oscar -he was but nominated Seven Times...

Jewison could've done just three films and he would've made history, and film history. In the Heat of the Night, Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof. Others can say The Cincinnati Kid or The Thomas Crown Affair, the two films he did with Steve McQueen, his friend but also his most difficult actor (as he said). I'd say also Rollerball, with a brilliant James Caan. Amazing film even today ! Weird that John McTiernan remade two of his films that didn't need any remake at all.

1st film of his saw -in Romanian Theaters- was And Justice for All (Dreptate pentru toti)-1979, with a hectic Al Pacino. We call this movie now, And Justice for Al ;)  Also In the Heat of The Night (In arsita noptii, 1967), I saw on the cinema but on a re-run, a film about Racial prejudice that made Sidney Poitier famous as detective Tibbs and a brilliant Rod Steiger as chief Gillespie, he won an Oscar for best lead-these days that would've been supporting part (while Poitier wasn't even nominated :( ), great score by Quincy Jones, title track by Ray Charles, and it's another one of those films who directed itself-no director win, but won 5 Oscars: for best film, best script, and gave Hal Ashby his only Oscar-for editing, 5 awards in total !!!

In the 80's he made less interesting and engaging films, except Moonstruck (1987) which had a fabulous showcase for a young Nicolas Cage and 3 Oscar wins-one for Cher, also the pic got awarded the Silver Bear in Berlinale.  In 1999 he did The Hurricane, about the boxer Rubin Carter, wrongfully accused for murder and imprisoned hard, another story of Race and social injustice, with a grand Denzel Washington (that he kinda discovered and pushed into A Soldier's Tale -1984), film that introduced me to that brilliant Bob Dylan "Hurricane" song. Denzel was nominated for an Oscar for this and won best actor in Berlinale.

Last film of his I saw was The Russians are Coming The Russians are Coming (1966), a re-watch last year due to the death of Alan Arkin which is fabulous in this underrated and forgotten comedy cold war classic (close to Billy Wilder's best). 

I was a big fan of Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), which was a big hit for us on video and I saw very late Fiddler on the Roof (1971), on a private screening and a night to remember with it's biggest fan, in his flat, a certain director which I love very much ;)

All in all, Norman Jewison was one of the Greats. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Too bad...but grateful for all the films he did and I loved. RIP...

Variety Obit here.

Final Cut / Coupez! (2022)

Coupez! (Cut, but English title Final Cut, 2022) was the opening film at Cannes Film Festival in 2022. A high profile remake of Japanese cult classic from 2017, One Cut of the Dead, written & directed by Michel Hazanavicius (OSS, L'artiste, Le redoutable) and distributed by Wild Bunch. A film-in-film, meta-film if ever was one;), zombies included (I think worse we can do is to spoil it!),  the making of a Z grade zombie film. It is one of the year's most fun and underrrated films. Think in comparison of the (a)void The Dead Don't Die, another opening in Cannes, this time by Jim Jarmusch in his one-too-many deconstruction of genres. My two-bits on that here!

But Coupez! has to be seen especially in its construction of 3 acts, 1st and 3d mirroring one another. I have seen only bits of the original Japanese which was a low-budget 25.000$ production but it was a huge hit (25 million $ BO) with awards in over 20 genre festivals. The French remake had a 4 million euros budget and known actors in the lead, Romain  Duris as the neurotic director, Berenice Bejo as his actress/makeup artist wife.  It's more sophisticated (mais oui, c"est français) and also nods the Japanese original, with members of the original cast, adding a most funny sound effects technician. The Z comes from the Z channel, a genre streaming initiative. You just have to watch the one-take act 1 (first half hour) with patience and then you'll be rewarded ;) Crazy rhythm and joie-de-cinema, Day for Night avec beaucoup du faux sang!

Dune (2021) -Dume despre Dune!!!

N-am mai postat aici dar scriu pentru revista Golan unde mi-am dat un spicy task, am scris despre noul Dune, dar nu numai eu, avec des amis. 

Voila les dumes des Dunes ici

et la presentation FB:

A ieșit un articol mare și complex cu motive pentru care mulțumește și dezamăgește filmul lui Villeneuve, la care au contribuit Dan Stăiculescu (scenarist & copywriter), Ioachim Ciobanu (actor & regizor), Cristian Lăzărescu (regizor & fizician), Bogdan Movileanu (arhivist Arhiva Națională de Film), Sega (scriitor) și Ionut Constantin aka Yokko (muzician).

link direct aici: https://bit.ly/3nh7MaM

LMA Brian De Palma is 80 !!!!

 Happy Birthday Maestro !  Auguri e Grazie !

I'm really sorry you did not get to make more subversive great stuff in the last decade, the 2010's and I really wanted to like Domino and Passion but we all know you lost the passion for 'em in the haf-way. 

Sorry you did not get to do that Untouchables prequel and the movie about Howard Hughes and other projects close to your heart.

You guys over everywhere should see the De Palma doc for more insights on the timeless influence of BDP movies. 

***And now that's this crap idea of another Scarface remake circling around who seems to come to fruition :(  a revisionist take by Luca Guagardino, who did a good job with Argento's Suspiria but Scarface as by De Palma 's 1983 is such a unique piece in time that no one can ever touch Pacino and Oliver Stone's  take on Montana on a mountain of coke and madness on the Moroder waltz. My piece on one of my favorite films here !

An article and interview with Guagardino from Venice on this here !

Larry Cohen RIP

Larry Cohen was a brilliant screenwriter and director with B sensibilities-It”s Alive, God Told Me To, Q, The Ambulance. He was 77. RIP :(

Guillermo del Toro  @RealGDT Larry Cohen. RIP. A true iconoclast and independent. I will always marvel at It's Alive!, Q, Perfect Strangers (what a brilliant premise!) and God Told Me To- Andy Kaufman being in it just adds more special sauce.

Cannes 70: The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola face remake sau re-ecranizare la THE BEGUILED, dupa romanul southern gotic din 1966 al lui Thomas P. Cullinan, dar mie filmele mi se par foarte similare si imi pare rau, dar Colin Farrell o fi bun in Killing of The Scared Deer dar sa vezi doua zile la rind filme cu Farrell si Nicole Kidman mi se pare aiurea...
Beguiled ul nou arata extraordinar, e filmat superb de Phillipe Le Sourd, si are set design perfect -prea shiny costumele ca doar nu e bal la Versailles, si muzica de trupa franceza Phoenix (le mari de Sofia), bazata pe Monteverdi.

voila, o fotografie elocvenata din filmul din 1971, Clint in bratele Geraldinei Page, o ipostaza de Christ sacrificat. Oricit o fi ea de Sofia de Coppola, Don Siegel e DON SIEGEL si subiectul atunci era indraznet iar pentru Clint un contraemploi si e un rol extraordinar...

voila si pe Farrell azi, spicuit si barbierit, ca din Mindrie si prejudecata (a mea ?)

deci, mon opinion-vedeti originalul !!!

Jonathan Demme RIP

The Silence of the Lambs: Joanthan Demme is no more :(
73 years old -cancer-seemed younger, a man who started directing for Roger Corman (still alive at 90 !) -Caged Heat -1974, Crazy Mama-1975-and then went to Oscar respect with Philadelphia.
My faved flicks of his: Last Embrace, The Manchurian Candidate, Something Wild, Melvin and Howard and surely LAMBS (Oscar for best director in 1992).
Directed rockumentaries, Stop Making Sense -Talking Heads, Heart of Gold-Neil Young,. so forth.
Lasst film, Ricki and the Flash, in 2015.
His nephew, director Ted Demme  (Blow, The Ref) died in 2002 at 38 !
RIP !

Toni Erdmann -de la Cannes la Oscar la Gopo...

Astazi la ora 19.00 nu ratati TONI ERDMANN la Cinemateca Patria, ultima proiectie la Brasov. Daca nu a luat Oscarul pentru cel mai bun film strain, miine pronosticul meu e ca va primi Gopo-ul pentru cel mai bun film european. Go, Toni 
*i was mistaken, son of saul took the award, which was predictable surely but i still am Toni's fan !
#Tonierdmann

cronica mea -de fapt un text de promo, din zile si nopti Bv:

Țineți minte 2 cuvinte, Toni Erdmann. De ce? Pentru că e un nume pe care nu o să îl uiți ușor. Și e un nume inventat, dincolo de film, în film. Cu toții putem fi Toni Erdman, cu doi de N. Erdman ar putea fi printr-o traducere poetică „Omul pământului”, sau „Pământeanul”. Un soi de David Bowie în varianta upbeat a Omului care a căzut pe pământ (The Man Who Fell To Earth, 1976), pământul în speță fiind cel românesc. Toni e ca un extraterestru prin București dar se adaptează. La fel și cei doi actori geniali, Peter Simonischek și Sandra Hüller, Toni și fiica sa, Ines, secondați de conaționalii noștri, Vlad Ivanov, Victoria Cociaș, Alexandru Papadopol. Filmul a primit PREMIUL PRESEI INTERNAȚIONALE LA CANNES (FIPRESCI), și este propunerea Germaniei la Oscar (și părerea mea este că va câștiga), un film în care românii ies mai bine decât trebuie, prezentați de către regizoarea Maren Ade cu multă căldură, și ca un popor cu speranță (așa cum și suntem, atunci când nu ne pierdem răbdarea). Cuvântul cheie e: Umanitate. Și vom vedea și cea mai amuzantă folosire a unui costum de gorilă, de la John Landis încoace. Ultra-recomandat. La Cinemateca Patria, Toni Erdmann va veni luni, 14 noiembrie, ora 19:00. Voi veniți să îl întâlniți?

Alin Ludu Dumbravă

-critic de film, curator Cinemateca Patria-

* asta era in noiembrie, acum no Oscra but go Toni for Gopo :)

soon a major Paramount motion picture event strarring JACK NICOLSON and Kristen Wiig :)

Dario Argento's The Sandman & LMA

Pe 7 septembrie Dario Argento a implinit 75 de ani. LMA ! La Venetia regizorul Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) a anuntat ca va prelua el remake-ul la Suspiria, la care din 2007 incoace a fost atasat David Gordon Green.
Recent Argento, dupa duda cu Dracula 3D din 2012, a regizat pe scena. opera Macbeth de Verdi, inregistare care ar fi available pe blu-ray cu 40 de euro.
Dar il maestro nu se lasa batut via il cinema !

Noul sau proiect se numeste THE SANDMAN (fara legatura cu Neil Gaiman, dar creditat lui E.T.A. Hoffman), si il are in rolul principal pe nimeni altul decit...Iggy Pop !!!!
Se cauta finantare privata si o campanie pe indiegogo si-a reusit target-ul.

Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend us your… eyes -- while you still have them, that is -- and look over our Indiegogo campaign, to ensure that The Maestro (of Terror), Dario Argento, and The Godfather (of Punk) Iggy Pop have free reign to make this next horror film a true masterpiece for the ages!
Beware The Sandman!
Going back to the dark, original German legend: the REAL Sandman was someone who stole the eyes of any children that wouldn’t just close them and go to sleep... he'd then go feed them to his hungry children on the moon. How's that for a bedtime story? To share this tale in a contemporary way that only Dario Argento can offer, we've carefully crafted a script like none other.